


To Steal a Heart

by draculaur_ia



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Forbidden Love, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Kuudere reader, Reader-Insert, Slow Burn, basically is "stop cockblocking me akechi", i guess??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:01:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25449523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/draculaur_ia/pseuds/draculaur_ia
Summary: Cheer captain, honor student, Akechi Goro's twin sister. Living a double-life is difficult, to say the least, as the two of you skillfully hide your troubled past from the public and media. At the start of your senior year, you meet Kurusu Akira, who is living a double-life of his own… but your brother doesn’t take kindly to your growing interest in the Phantom Thief leader.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren (Persona Series)/Reader, Kurusu Akira/Reader, Persona 5 Protagonist/Reader
Comments: 35
Kudos: 139





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as the summary says, goro is reader’s twin brother in this fic… this is about akira but still expect sibling bonding/fluff with goro, too; if you hate him, you should prob leave now lol… make it less painful for you…  
> also am referring to joker as akira kurusu in this u-u… let’s get started.

It shouldn’t have been so easy to space out on the matter of someone’s lost life. For Goro, it was.

They were currently discussing the recent mental shutdown case in the office, including the casualties and survivors. The only thing grounding him to the dreary meeting room was the realization he would be able to leave in five minutes, tops.

“Is there anything else?” Niijima Sae asked. Okay, two minutes.

After explaining the already-stated paperwork and research into connections, they were allowed to retire for the day.

“We’ll leave the rest to you,” Sae said, giving a gesture of acknowledgment before exiting. Goro followed after her – with an encouraging comment of his own, of course – and bit back the instinct to hum casually. The mental shutdowns were nothing new at this point, but he couldn’t let that show.

Sae was silent as she walked ahead of him, and Goro took it as a moment to reflect on his assigned workload. Perhaps he could finish it all tonight and have it out of the way–

Oh, wait, he had to go grocery shopping, didn’t he? Well… it was just for milk. He could ask (Y/N) to pick it up on the way home. Hopefully, her cheer practice didn’t keep her at school too late.

Sending a quick text to her, he picked up his pace to catch up with Sae-san.

* * *

“I promise I’ll be there at your next tournament–”

“–Promise?”

Ann groaned. “As long as my modeling stuff doesn’t get in the way…” As she trailed off, thinking about her approaching photoshoot dates, Shiho’s face grew into a pout.

“See? You always pick modeling over me,” she sighed, but her small giggle afterward indicated that she was joking. Regardless of understanding her jest, Ann still yelped, eyes wide.

“ _No!_ ” she shrieked, frantically shaking her palms in front of her. “I promise I’ll show up! Even if I have to cancel a photoshoot!”  
Shiho laughed and Ann stood, dumbfounded. “I’m just messing with you. But I would really love to see you in the crowd,” she grinned brightly. Her eyes sparkled as if imagining it.

“I’ll try my best,” Ann smiled, taking both of her friend’s hands in her own. “I want to be there to cheer you on.”  
Shiho began to smile back but was interrupted as she winced with a grunt. She pulled one of her hands from Ann’s to hold her head. The blonde gasped, softly grabbing her shoulders now. “Shiho–!”

“I’m fine, I promise,” she spoke quietly, curling into herself. The source: a bruise that had formed on her forehead a few days ago. Shiho had insisted she wasn’t paying attention to the volleyball during practice and it wasn’t a big deal. Trying to change the subject and not worry Ann, she straightened herself and forced a smile, regardless of how much pain was throbbing through her head. “I… I’ll be counting on you to keep that promise, Ann.”

Ann, eyes softened with worry, squeaked, “Y-yeah… of course.”

After exchanging nervous goodbyes, Ann clenched her bag strap while walking toward the stairs. Her eyes didn’t leave the floor as she took a deep breath, sending a prayer to whatever being up there to protect Shiho.

Meanwhile, passing by some lockers on the first floor of the school, (Y/N) groaned while reading her phone screen.

She’d had a brief cheer meeting to review their recent routine, and now her brother was texting her to buy a carton of milk on the way home – there went her plans to ice her legs tonight and never move again. She readjusted both of her bags on her left arm and kept going with a huff.

Right as she fumbled to type a response with one hand, she overheard talking from down the hall. Most students had gone home by then; if not, they were in sports practice or meeting with teachers, so the hallways were eerily quiet. Noticing a familiar voice was easy within the silence.

“Look, no need to be so rash–”

(Y/N)’s eyes widened a bit, slowing down as she listened in. Turning the corner, she shouldn’t have been surprised to see Kamoshida picking on another girl; what was new?

She appeared to be a second-year… (Y/N) had seen this girl around before, mostly with Suzui. She was easy to remember, considering how beautiful – and out of place – she looked.

“Please, can you save this for later–?”

“Come on, it’s just one night. It won’t kill you…”

“I-I can’t…”

“Your dear friend is on the line here. I thought you cared about her, hmm?”

“Don’t bring Shiho into this– I can’t do this right now–”

When the coach yanked the girl by her arm and drew a defenseless yelp from her, (Y/N) didn’t think twice about stepping in.  
“I don’t remember giving you a choice,” Kamoshida snarled as he loomed over her. The student’s gaze snapped away, unable to look him in the eyes.

“Let go–!”

“Fuck off, Kamoshida. If she doesn’t want to go with you, don’t make her,” a firm but quiet voice sounded from a few feet away.

They both turned, taken aback to see the senior cheer captain standing before them.

Ann had never spoken with her before, but she’d noticed her in Shujin occasionally. Ann admittedly thought she was quite pretty, but figured she’d never get to tell her that.

Expression blank, (Y/N) wore no sign of fear or regret – even as Kamoshida released Ann’s arm and adjusted himself to face her, towering over her with probably two extra feet.

“If it isn’t Akechi,” Kamoshida cooed. “Finally decided to join the volleyball team? Is that why you’re here?”

“I’d have to be a dumb dog to work under you again.”

“Well, if you’re not here for anything, scram. Leave us alone.”

“She doesn’t want to be with you.” The calm stability (Y/N) showed in her face was incredible. Ann grew envious, almost; she wished she could face Kamoshida with such courage. “We were going to walk home together, anyway.”

Ann perked up, eyes widening for a minute. She hadn’t uttered a single word to (Y/N) before, yet she was covering for her? Ann didn’t say a peep, nor look at Kamoshida as he turned to her for confirmation.

Although with a click of his tongue, Kamoshida replied, “Fine. Go have fun.” The words flashed an image of a normal teacher, one who didn’t abuse his beloved students, but (Y/N) kept her eyes glued on him as he returned to the Practice Building.

“Are you ready?” (Y/N) asked once the coach was out of view. Ann practically flinched when the girl’s eyes fell on hers.

“Uh– S-sure…” she forced up. She followed (Y/N) as she led them both to the main doors.

The silence between them was unbearable – at least for Ann, who had never been quite comfortable with a lack of conversation; (Y/N) looked fine.

With a quick bite at her lip, Ann tried to say something.

“Thanks a lot – you really didn’t have to do that,” she fretted, hands finally releasing their grip on her jacket sleeves. The fabric was wrinkled and damp where she had clenched it for so long.

“Of course I did,” (Y/N) said, staring straight ahead. Ann wondered if she ever showed any expression besides the one she was giving right now, distant and unreadable. Had she ever smiled in her life? “I hate that dog Kamoshida. He’s a horny bitch. I couldn’t just leave you with him.”

(Y/N)’s casual use of profanity left Ann speechless. She opened her mouth to ask for her own experiences with the famed volleyball coach, ask what had happened to create such a deep hatred for him. Instead, she murmured, “Thanks… I really mean it.”

She eyed the second-year in her peripheral, noticing the tension in her straight posture.

“I see you with Suzui-chan a lot,” (Y/N) tried to ease her obvious awkwardness. Bingo; she perked up like a stringed puppet risen from a table by its puppetmaster. As the blonde started to talk about her best friend, hesitant explanations evolved into buoyant rambling. (Y/N) took notice of the way her blue eyes lit up, how she seemed to genuinely smile. Just as she dove into a story about Suzui accidentally stealing a juice box from 777, she blinked. Noticing how much she’d talked, a nervous smile formed on her face.

With an apology and thumb-gesture, Ann said, “My house is this way… Thank you again. And I’m sorry for talking your ear off.”

Her brain was knocked out of her skull by the small smile (Y/N) returned to her. She barely heard (Y/N) remind her to stay safe, nor when she officially introduced herself. ‘Takamaki Ann’ – (Y/N) had been hearing that name a lot recently.

(Y/N) commenced humming to herself, a few meters down the block, when her phone vibrated again. She checked the notification, seeing another text from Goro.

 **Oro:** Hello? Milk?

Fuck, she had forgotten to press send on the text, huh?

Yep… It was lingering in her typing bar, half-finished.

She groaned again – she completely forgot about the store. Quickly texting him back to say she was on her way now ( _and making sure it sent this time_ ), she turned on her tail and speed-walked toward the closest grocery store. It was starting to get dark, and she could make it before nighttime fell if she went fast enough.

* * *

The apartment door getting practically knocked off its hinges was all it took to interrupt the quiet working environment Goro had created.

He had set up shop at the small dining table tonight – which was unusual… he usually cooped himself up in his room to finish work – and only glanced at her calmly before looking back down at his laptop. “I actually beat you home today,” he pointed out.

(Y/N) rolled her eyes at him, locking the door behind her. “Don’t get used to it,” she jested. She bit back her urge to throw the carton of milk onto the counter, along with the other snacks she’d picked up while wandering to the dairy aisle. Instead, she gingerly slid it into the fridge where the previous milk had once been.

Their apartment was decently sized; Goro’s detective money was good for something. (Y/N) was the only one who truly made it look “lived in,” buying games, plants, posters, and anything of the like that Goro would probably have no interest in. There was still a blanket balled up on the couch from where she had sunken into it last weekend, playing Pokémon all day to reject the idea of school starting.

She could tell Goro had eyed the goodies she bought because he laughed, “You couldn’t help yourself, huh?”

“I bought you some, too, don’t worry,” (Y/N) said, digging through the plastic bag to toss him a few of his favorite candies and basic gas station snacks.

“Oh, I’m so flattered,” Goro flashed his ‘Charming TV Detective Smile’ – the same smile that had become an inside joke between them – and she bit her lip to suppress a laugh.

“Ew, stop that,” she gagged, the laugh bubbling out of her at the fake offended look he gave her.

“I’m hurt,” he said in the least hurt voice ever. (Y/N) couldn’t find a joke to shoot back at him, instead dragging both of her bags on the floor toward her room. “You seem tired,” he commented, not even looking up from his laptop.

She groaned as if that were a form of communication. “I _am_. It’s only the first week of school and I already want it to be over.” It was best if she didn’t mention her run-in with Kamoshida. With a glance at the ceiling, she hummed, “Being cheer captain is fun, though. Anyway– I’m going to my room and never leaving.”

She heard Goro’s chuckle behind her. “Wake up on time, please,” was all he warned her with.

* * *

Seeing Goro the next morning after being haunted with nightmares was relieving, on the bright side. 

Nightmares – another sign of her stress. 

(Y/N) was usually able to avoid them; at least, avoid them as well as a person could avoid fired volcano strikes. It wasn't easy.

She didn’t plan to tell Goro about the dreams (well… maybe), but she just enjoyed her time with him more with his recent popularity. Who knew being a detective would pry away all of his free time?

On the train, the topic of coffee arose and Goro mentioned a café by the name of Leblanc in the Yongen-Jaya area. He explained that he stumbled across it with Sae, his coworker, but couldn’t elaborate because they had to go their separate ways. Pausing for a moment, (Y/N) mentally bookmarked the name and general location Goro had described. ‘Leblanc’... an interesting name.

Eight hours of hearing ‘ _transfer student, transfer student_ ,’ and ‘ _Takamaki, Takamaki_ ,’ and even her own name a few times – word must have gotten out of her and Kamoshida’s confrontation – (Y/N) was about ready to plunge herself into the Earth’s outer core. She hoped Takamaki-chan was okay.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise for Makoto to approach her seconds after the dismissal bell rang, asking about Kamoshida.

Niijima Makoto. (Y/N) was her first friend at Shujin, and the only one who could stand her, it seemed. Peers never really understood how (Y/N) was able to befriend so many students, of all years, friend groups, and personalities – especially with how much (Y/N) usually kept to herself. The shock on their faces was apparent when she’d be found laughing with former track star and now delinquent, Sakamoto Ryuji, during meets, but then sat with the Student Body President, Niijima Makoto, the next day. Students couldn’t wrap their small heads around the idea of talking to people outside of their established friend groups.

Like many of her other “publicly despised” friends, (Y/N) tried to improve Makoto’s sullied name as much as possible with her own influence, but there was only so much she could do.

“Did something happen between you and Kamoshida-san?” Makoto inquired.

She had that intense look in her eye that indicated she would burst into a lecture any second, so (Y/N) sighed and poked the girl’s cheek. “Yes, but don’t worry, Mako,” she replied, and then, quieter, asked, “What have you heard?”

Makoto’s eyes flitted downward, clenching her bag strap. “N-not much, but… you should be careful with your temper. I wouldn’t want to sign on a bill to expel you or something.”

(Y/N) laughed at that, even though she knew Makoto had only added that last part to make her concern seem like a joke. “Like I said, you don’t need to worry.” She grinned, “But you better be there at my defense if I do get expelled.”

“I think that would get _me_ expelled.” There was some truth to her words, and they both knew it.

With (Y/N) messily averting the subject of Kamoshida, she took the short walk to the stairs to ask Makoto about her own workload. She looked overwhelmed – she always did, but now, especially – and it felt wrong to merely give her a pitying smile and apology, so (Y/N) offered to help her with anything she could before leaving.

Somewhere between the walk to the locker rooms and teaching the girls about proper flips, Makoto saying “ _your temper_ ” burning in the back of her mind, (Y/N) decided to stop by that café.

* * *

It was mesmerizing, to look up from her GPS screen and see the unruly painted walls atop exposed brick, empty counters, and a barely-spinning ceiling fan – all drawn into something charming by the blunt smell of coffee and creamer. The only other person in the shop was a man, in his thirties, silently enjoying his drink at a booth. Only when she hesitantly sat at a stool and placed her bags on the floor beside her did she notice the low buzz of a news channel on the TV.

After hearing an older man’s voice snap that a customer was waiting out front, a young, relatively tall boy lodged himself out of the backroom like a doll on a string. Maybe the other man had bound him to a voodoo doll. They made eye contact halfway through (Y/N)’s ‘voodoo’ thought, and she resisted the urge to look away.

He was definitely around her age. Underneath the nest of black hair on his head and his glasses, he sported a young face. He appeared calm and collected from first glance, but, upon paying closer attention, she could see his feet fidgeting uncomfortably as he asked for her order. He maintained steady eye contact with her, nonetheless.

(Y/N) looked over the menu behind him for a moment before reverting to her blank yet soft tone, “I’m… new here. Could I ask for recommendations?” Right as she asked, an older man – the source of the other voice, she assumed – entered the room and looked her up and down before suggesting the house blend. She nodded with a quiet approval, watching him wash his hands to start the cup.

Trying to ignore the other boy’s presence, (Y/N) reached down for one of the books in her bag and began reading. The cup only took a few minutes before the man placed it in front of her, and the boy had occupied himself with the previous customer’s dishes during the wait. Upon the presumed shop owner returning to the backroom, it dawned on (Y/N) that she was now alone with the high schooler.

She didn’t let it show, with her continuous blank expression and calm page-turning, but she was nervous out of her shit.  
(Y/N) promptly ceased her reading and found herself watching his movements out of the corner of her eye, unable to focus on the text. She was only snapped out of it when he commented on the book she was reading.

She accidentally slipped a “ _huh?_ ” and resisted the urge to bash her skull in.

The boy didn’t pay it much thought, though, repeating himself while turning fully to her, “I read that book a little while ago.”

“Oh, y… yeah… I just started it last week,” her voice was shaken from its usual steady tone. (Y/N) wanted to pour the still-steaming coffee on her face; hopefully that would kill her, or at least save her the embarrassment of this encounter.

A slight spark entered the boy’s eye, eyebrows raising as if he didn’t expect her to respond. Or maybe she was overthinking it and he was just happy to talk about books with someone. “I didn’t think it was a good read. I would have changed a lot about the plot, especially the ending.”

His disapproval allowed (Y/N) the safety to express her own, “I haven’t been feeling it, either, but I’m still reading in the hope it’ll change.” Her shoulders dropped a little, allowing her to comfortably rest her elbow on the counter.

He stuffed his hands in his jean pockets, wrinkling his apron a bit. He recommended another book that he recently finished, and as (Y/N) prepared to jot down the title and author on her bookmark, he stopped her. “I have a copy upstairs,” he insisted.

Okay, number one: ‘Upstairs’? There’s an upstairs? She glanced to her left and it was confirmed that, yes, there was a staircase by the bathroom.

And two: He was giving his book away like that – to a girl he just met ten minutes ago, nonetheless?

“Oh, no, I can’t take yours,” she shook her hand limply on her wrist, brows pinching together. But he was already exiting the space behind the counter.

“I don’t mind as long as you give it back–” he stopped himself, hand propped on the wall by the stairs, “–and even then, I don’t really mind.”  
So she sat and waited, listening to the uneven cracks of his feet on the floorboards upstairs until he quickly returned with the novel in hand. It was average-sized; nothing she couldn’t finish in a week or so.

“Do you… live here?” it slipped before she could stop it. The boy didn’t seem offended, so maybe it wasn’t a bad thing to ask.

His eyes bounced to the wall, thumb stroking back and forth on the book cover. “Yeah… it’s a long story,” he answered before she could probe.

(Y/N) took the cue and dropped the subject there. Right as she accepted the book and thanked him, she created the most awkward segway into, “I’m Akechi (Y/N).”

He stared at her, as if testing the name on her appearance, before completing his end of the exchange, “Kurusu Akira.”

* * *

Bursting through the door, she caught a glance of Goro flinching at the dining table. He turned his head to look at (Y/N) as she came in, swinging the door shut behind her.

“GORO!” she shrieked, as if he hadn’t already clearly seen – _heard_ – her, and threw her bag onto the floor. “A cute boy just recommended me a book to read!”

At the reveal, Goro’s face fell as he returned his attention to his work. “I was expecting something more exciting than that,” he muttered. (Y/N)’s jaw dropped open.

“You’re just jealous that a cute boy didn’t give you a free book,” she cracked back, lips pursed in fake pity.

She could _hear_ Goro’s eye-roll. “Yes, that must be it,” he deadpanned, accompanied by the flipping of a paper.

(Y/N) started the book in the safety of her bed that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> plz ignore me while i try to figure out how ao3 works x_x i grew up a fanfiction.net gamer :}


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suzui's suicide attempt became the top gossip of Shujin, and you felt wrong to sit around and mull over the limited options you had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slight tw for suicide mention

Kamoshida was like a mosquito. The more you flung him off, the more he came right back, as avid and eager to piss you off as ever. 

So (Y/N) shouldn’t have been so surprised to see him creep up on her and Suzui two days following her original confrontation with him.

She was helping Suzui find a spare volleyball net in the gym closet, trying to laugh and make small talk regardless of the pressing weight between them. Something was wrong.

They heard Kamoshida before they saw him, standing in front of the supply closet’s open doors. And, of course, this had to be on a day she genuinely looked forward to finishing. She had completed the book Kurusu lent her and anticipated discussing it with him that evening.

She spent most of the school day forming her sentences to say to him, the exact way she would word her points. It had been so long since she had someone to talk to about _books_. Now she just needed someone new to talk to about video games. Did Kurusu like video games–?

She worked quickly through her studies, heart leaping with glee when thinking of the conversation she’d have with him.

–Now just for Kamoshida to stand his wide frame in front of the supply closet doors like a Transformer robot.

He easily blocked the doors, and (Y/N)’s eyes traced the spaces beneath his arms in case she needed to grab Suzui and bolt. Speaking of her, Suzui had practically melded into the stacked gymnastic mats behind her, hands clenching around a volleyball. The idea of escaping became very real.

His voice echoed along the empty gym walls as he greeted them, sinister if only by the narrow of his eyes. (Y/N) fought the urge to cower at his intimidating height over them.

“I almost regret asking you to join the volleyball team–” his teeth sunk into his lip “–That would be a waste of an opportunity to see you in a cheer uniform.” Before (Y/N) could spit back at him, his eyes fell on Suzui, who literally flinched. Red flags decorated with deafening bells went off in (Y/N)’s head, reminding her, _something was definitely wrong_. “And don’t get me started on you, _Suzui-chan_. You were supposed to be back ten minutes ago, you know.”

Suzui’s hands failed to keep her grip still, trembling as her head lowered; (Y/N) had the distant urge to touch her arms to calm her. “I-I’m sorry. I’m coming now–”

“She’ll be there in a few minutes,” (Y/N) snarled before she could finish. Suzui shot her a petrified, “ _why would you do that?_ ” look. All (Y/N) could do to answer right now was give a confident glance and return her attention to Kamoshida. 

Teachers loved (Y/N) and viewed her as an honor student – all of her past coaches used her as a positive example during practice. Not to mention that her twin brother was ace detective Akechi Goro, who was finally gaining a name for himself – what could possibly be missing? 

Well, a lot of things. 

It wasn’t always like this.

For one, her indignant temper was about to get her killed by this raging pedophile in front of her, as the coach narrowed his eyes and loomed over her. He was obviously losing control of whatever fake smile he’d equipped. 

“I’m capable of escorting my own students, Akechi,” Kamoshida growled. (Y/N)’s face only pinched into a deeper glare.

“And she’ll be ready in a minute.”

Surprisingly, Kamoshida gave in, yet she had the feeling it wasn’t to keep the peace – but because he had a plan already set in to keep the upper hand. He stepped back from the closet, freeing some air from (Y/N)’s lungs as there was more space to escape from. 

“You like bossing people around for someone your size and status,” Kamoshida boasted, eyes tracing her like she was a bunny in a lion’s den – figuratively, she was. This was practically _his_ gym now; he owned anything he requested from Shujin. Including the students– “You’re still a kid. I should teach you to respect your authorities.”

(Y/N) hid the chill of fear that iced through her spine, keeping her gaze steady. “Don’t try anything unless you want it to bite you in the ass,” she huffed. Suzui’s eyes glued onto her back.

Kamoshida flashed her another of his victorious smiles and chided, “Or what? You’re gonna cry to your bitch-boy brother, hmm?” 

(Y/N) felt the blood pool, hot and burning, up to her throat, but she couldn’t snap back with the fire gathering on her tongue because Suzui pulled her arm. The volleyball member softly reminded (Y/N) to stay quiet and avoid any worse retribution. But watching Kamoshida exit the gym in fits of laughter was punishment enough.

* * *

The trip to Leblanc was slow and tiresome, (Y/N) on the verge of slamming her head into the train window the entire time. Talk about a mood crusher… 

Entering the café, she was greeted with the brewed scent of coffee and the same older man as before. Quiet music trilled through the café from a hand-sized speaker, hardly audible if she didn’t focus enough. A few people were sitting in the booths, but no Kurusu. 

Not wanting to make an awkward exit after bounding in, she took a seat at her previous stool and ordered. The owner didn’t seem to recognize her, so she ordered a drink as casually as possible. Even after drinking the heavily creamed blend, Kurusu didn’t make an appearance.

Was he not here? (Y/N) drooped like a plant in hot summer heat. She despised herself for being so disappointed, but her excitement to see him couldn’t be helped; it was basically what got her through the day, what convinced her to not throw down with Kamoshida.

She quietly sighed, watching the owner clean up dishes while humming to the tune. (Y/N) didn’t wish to ask him about Kurusu and appear nosy, so she reached for her wallet to leave a tip. 

There he was.

The owner noticed him as quickly as she did, glancing up from the sink to ask, “Did you find the fan?”

“Yeah, thank you,” Kurusu replied. (Y/N) watched him intently, prepared to say something to get his attention before he could escape again. No need; he caught eyes with her and her heart paused. 

She stared at him, the tingling resounding through her bones like an instrument for only a second. And, just like that, her brief freakout was over. Kurusu began a conversation as normal.

“I didn’t know you were here,” he said, smiling a bit as if… amused?

“I finished the book,” she hummed, but her expression remained blank. She tried desperately to pull it into something – a grin, anything – but it remained detached.

Kurusu smiled again. “Did you like it?” 

“Y-yeah,” she said, turning on the stool to face him. She searched in her bag for the novel, handing it to him. 

Before he could say anything, the shop owner took notice of their conversation and said, “Oh, wait, I remember you. You’re his friend, right?”

(Y/N) didn’t want to make things awkward by calling Kurusu her friend – but then it was Kurusu, himself, who responded with a “ _Yep._ ” She hid her jolt and instead forced a quick smile toward the owner. 

“I’m Sakura Sojiro, but you can call me Boss,” the man said between puffs of a cigarette. “I guess I’ll see you here often – that’s good, this guy needs more friends.”

Kurusu didn’t say anything about the comment, so (Y/N) went on to introduce herself with an acknowledging bow of her head. Kamoshida slipped away from her mind for a moment.

“I didn’t know you went to Shujin,” Kurusu pointed out, glancing at (Y/N)’s uniform blazer. She jumped, barely finding enough of herself to nod. 

“Oh… yeah,” she replied. “I’m a third-year. Do you go there, too? I’ve never seen you.”

A slight smile lifted Kurusu’s mouth, and he held the book against the outside of his thigh. “That’s a relief, all I’ve been hearing is people talking about me since I got there.”

(Y/N) almost missed him answering that he was a second-year because something in her head clicked, and her eyes widened. “Wait. Are you the transfer student everyone’s been–?” When Kurusu nodded with a nervous smile, her jaw dropped to the tile floor. _This_ was the scary transfer student convicted of assault that everyone was terrified of? The boy whom she met because he discussed a _book_ with her? “I. I didn’t even know,” she mumbled, face flushing with distant embarrassment. She should have connected that earlier.

Kurusu only appeared interested in the fact, chuckling. “I haven’t seen you at school before, either, so we’re even.” 

“If you’re gonna talk, you might as well do some work,” Boss interrupted their awkward exposing-of-things-that-should’ve-been-common-knowledge, eyes narrowed at Kurusu. With a sigh – barely even that, more like a quiet breath – he returned upstairs to change clothes and help Boss.

As they began a rundown of the novel’s plot, climax, and characters, Kurusu occasionally paused to take customers’ orders or collect dishes. (Y/N) leaned on the counter with one arm, stuck between sharing her opinion on his comments or just admiring him as he worked. At some point, her mind flashed to Kamoshida and Suzui, and she remembered to send the latter a quick text to ask how she was holding up.

(Y/N) gathered her things to leave, and Kurusu was quick to ask with a glance at the door, “Will you be okay going home?” 

She turned to the entrance, seeing the evening sun was nearly unraveled into nightfall by now. There would still be some light left – probably enough to get her to the train station. Acknowledging this, she still nodded and replied that she’d be fine.

Kurusu persisted. “Are you sure? I can’t walk with you – I’m on a curfew right now, but…” 

(Y/N) cut him off by ripping a small paper from her school bag, writing her chat ID on it. She held the note out to Kurusu, saying, “Here. Text me in a couple minutes and I’ll let you know when I get home.”

Goro eyed her when she came frolicking through the apartment door like a cartoon character emblazoned with flowers and sparkling eyes, but he didn’t say anything.

* * *

To think that she could abruptly fall from such a lofty high.

Suzui’s name was now being thrown around in the mix of gossip, and (Y/N)’s coping method was to cram until she couldn’t think straight.

The volleyball player’s suicide attempt gave the entire school population whiplash. It was all so sudden. One day, (Y/N) was defending her from Kamoshida in the gym closet – the next, she was falling from the top of a building. 

‘ _Because of the chemical, the combination rises_ –’

Her fingers tightened around her pencil until she thought it might snap. Kamoshida. She had no doubt he was behind this. Of course, the man of the hour, he was staying quiet at the moment.

‘– _this is known as a hydrochloric_ –’ 

(Y/N) wanted anything but to return to her quiet apartment. She didn’t want to have this clawing at her for another night. All she could see last night was Takamaki crouched over Suzui’s motionless body on the ground, flashed to her own mother – her empty eyes with her neck suspended from a ceil–

A pale hand patted a space across from her at the table, where some of her books had toppled over and claimed the spot as their own.

“Is anyone sitting here?” a familiar voice asked, and (Y/N)’s eyes rose to meet the anxious ones of Kurusu. 

Within a second, she jumped, quickly dragging her belongings back toward her side of the table. “I’m sorry! I didn’t realize my stuff was in the way,” she apologized, trying to keep her voice down. Some of the other students were already glancing in their direction, but it wasn’t surprising; Kurusu had attracted a lot of attention in the past week. Not helping that he now had an expulsion from Kamoshida hanging above his head. 

Now knowing that the rumors were about Kurusu and not some random guy she’d never met, (Y/N) felt a fit of sick anger in her stomach.

He took the seat, retrieving his own class materials – not without commenting on a few of the books she had sprawled out, first. He looked cute in the Shujin uniform; turtlenecks suited him.

(Y/N) forced a small smile. “Yeah… I found most of them in one of the free library stands around Shibuya.” This seemed to be a recurring conversation topic between them, huh? She gave in to it all over again, negotiating opinions on a book Kurusu had recognized in her stack.

Suzui was left unmentioned. Something they all knew and witnessed – and they _knew_ that – yet remained nothing but a silent acknowledgment. (Y/N) was somewhat grateful; she didn’t think she could stomach it, not after vomiting in the school bathroom as soon as Suzui vanished into the ambulance that day. Makoto had rubbed her back and walked with her to change her clothes – bless her. 

In (Y/N)’s short five-second reflection, she caught Kurusu’s eyes nervously tracing the library. Specifically, the students in it. 

Having an idea about what was bothering him – the words ‘ _disgusting criminal_ ’ floated by her ear – the corner of her mouth lowered in a frown. “Hey, don’t listen to them. They’ll take any rumor they hear and run with it until they hear something new. Don’t take it personally.”

Kurusu looked up at her, face a bit eased now. “Don’t you care that they’re associating you with me?” he asked – genuinely asked. (Y/N) got the feeling that he would actually get up and leave if she admitted that it bothered her. Luckily, it didn’t.

(Y/N) shrugged, insisting, “Not really. I’ve gone through too much to get hurt by some gossip.” 

She practically saw the hopeful sparkles forming in his eyes, and it made her smile. What followed was probably the most appreciative smile in history, regardless of how small it was in relation to his face. 

She wanted to see more. She wanted to see how wide she could get him to grin. He hadn’t laughed with her yet – well, small polite laughs, yes, but not the real laughter, the type you can’t hold back.

(Y/N)’s brief bliss was over because Kurusu was questioning her word choice, “‘You’ve gone through too much’?”

Shit. Her fingers grew limp on her physics worksheet. “Um… My tragic backstory is saved for Level Five friends only.” Making a joke about it was the nicest way to reject the idea of opening up to someone, she’d learned. 

Her schoolwork was done, but she didn’t move.

Cue Kurusu’s trademarked brow raise. “Only Level Five? I’ll get there in no time,” he smiled in amusement. 

All of (Y/N)’s bones stiffened, probably frozen into ice somewhere beneath her muscles, and she ignored the distant thumping against her ribs. Her mouth somehow kept moving, able to reply, “Big talk from the person who isn’t on a first-name basis yet.”

Something flashed on Kurusu’s face as if unsure if (Y/N)’s comment was a signal. “Oh… _Can_ I call you by your first name?” he asked, voice pitched in doubt.

“Maybe next time,” she hummed with a devious smile, like a kid who just snuck a sip of their mother’s wine and continued to eat dinner like a respectable child.

“You broke my heart,” Kurusu said with a comically blank face.

(Y/N) rolled her eyes, but a giggle escaped her. She began to collect her things, musing, “Focus on your schoolwork. I’m not going to wait here forever.” Kurusu looked up at her again, brows pinching together and lip tweaked a bit.

“You’re going to wait for me?”

(Y/N) rested her chin in her palm. “Yep, you’re fun to be around. And I don’t want you to get lost.” He didn’t respond, directing his attention to his study material. 

She finally took in the scene, Kurusu sitting across from her with the stereotypical, cheery posters sprawled on the library wall beyond him. His glasses were smudged, either from his long eyelashes or equally long bangs – probably both – and he held a face nothing like one of a teenage boy charged with assault. 

He finished his work shortly after and they both left. But (Y/N) wasn’t prepared to come back from the bathroom and find Sakamoto Ryuji talking to Kurusu in the hallway. 

She paused for a moment, indecisive on what to say. She had always been good friends with Ryuji – even now, with the former track team members holding a grudge against him – but she hadn’t really talked to him much since… _everything_ with Kamoshida last year. 

Unfortunately, they both noticed (Y/N) standing there, dumbfounded. She didn’t nearly expect him to smile at her. One of his pure, authentic Ryuji grins. 

“Hey! I haven’t seen you in a while!” he said, allowing (Y/N) the safety to approach. She didn’t realize she was smiling, too, until she opened her mouth to talk.

“I forgot you guys were friends,” (Y/N) laughed. “I don’t know how I forgot about the two _feared delinquents_ I’ve been hearing about.”

“Ya got that right,” Ryuji slung his arm over Kurusu’s shoulder, who blinked as if he was trying to press Pause on life and understand what was going on. She bit back a laugh. “I just stopped by. I gotta head home early to help my mom with somethin’.”

(Y/N) gave him a soft smile, and she caught Kurusu staring in the corner of her eye. “Tell her I said hi.”

Ryuji grinned. “Will do.” 

Unhooking his arm from Kurusu, Ryuji bounced down the stairs. It didn’t take long after he left and they continued their trek to the entrance for Kurusu to ask–

“You know Ryuji?” he questioned, turning his neutral stare to (Y/N). She didn’t notice it before, but his eyes were focused on her like a cat watching a trail of ants.

Regardless, she nodded and hummed, “We were on the track team together. I haven’t talked to him much recently, ever since the team disbanded and he dyed his hair.”

“Hmm, I figured you were friends before,” Kurusu pointed out, hands shoved in his pockets. He distantly watched students pass them in the hallway and (Y/N) longed to pull his eyes to her again.

“Really? Why?”

“He was nicer to you than he is to most people I’ve seen,” he chuckled. “I thought maybe it was because you were cute, but then he would have fangirled.”

It took a moment to strike (Y/N) – when she realized, her eyes widened and burned into his face. “Cu… cute?”

Kurusu left the comment for her own interpretation, only smiling at the wall parallel to them and asking, “Are you heading home now?” Not cool. 

Deciding to save it for her to mull over while tucked in bed later, she played along with his subject change, “Thankfully, yes.” She opened her mouth again just as she heard a muffled _meow_. (Y/N) thought she was imagining it – maybe the school year had already gotten to her and she was hallucinating – but Kurusu shoved his hand into his bag, shooting the barely opened zipper a look.

“A… cat?” she couldn’t stop herself from murmuring.

How fast Kurusu looked at her was comical. He seemed to have a mental debate with himself, eyes glancing back and forth in his conflict, before gently sliding his bag off his shoulder. The straps resting on his elbow now, he unzipped the rest of the bag and (Y/N) saw two blue eyes peek up at her.

She didn’t reach in to pet the animal yet, waiting for Kurusu to explain, “His name’s Morgana. Boss doesn’t want him to get in the way of customers.”

“So you bring him to school?” (Y/N) questioned, tilting her head curiously. 

“Yep.” The bright blue eyes never left hers, even when Kurusu stroked the cat’s head with his thumb and he finally revealed himself. Solid black fur with a white snout, ears twitching with interest, caught the Shujin hallway lights. 

Slow, (Y/N) raised her hand and finally grazed the spot below Morgana’s ear. He let out a purr – followed by Kurusu playfully ruffling his fur and telling him to be quiet – and (Y/N) giggled. Morgana reminded her of Eri, a stray cat that loitered around her apartment frequently. She hadn’t seen the calico in a couple of weeks – she hoped she was okay.

She had spaced out from Morgana’s meows until Kurusu rolled his eyes and zipped his school bag closed, tugging it back up to his shoulder. He began walking toward the main doors and she followed suit. “I think he likes you,” he commented, returning his hands to his pockets. 

(Y/N) read the spirited annoyance in his eye. “Jealous?” she quipped, intertwining her fingers behind her back.

“Maybe a little,” he shot a grin back at her, and she couldn’t decipher if he was joking or genuinely upset. But, more important than that, the sight of his teeth in the smile baffled her into forgetting about Morgana, where they were, and her possibility of getting slaughtered by Goro for getting home so late. 

“Your smile’s really nice,” she hummed because what the hell, it was senior year and this boy was too pretty for her to comprehend. That gave Kurusu pause, and he was undecided on covering his mouth self-consciously or flaunting it more to make a joke of it. They were outside now, the orange hue of the late afternoon shining on his face.

Finally deciding on a suitable reply, Kurusu’s smile dimmed a bit as he said, “Thanks, I don’t think I’ve been told that before.” Whatever moment they were having was ruined by Morgana thrashing in Kurusu’s bag, claws fumbling with the zipper to free himself. He sighed, digging in his pocket for a cat treat before dropping it into the monster’s den. “Okay, okay, we’re going home now, Mona–” 

“Akechi-chan!” They both glanced back at the school doors to see Mishima Yuuki rushing up to them. It was almost relieving to see him, like confirming that he was still _alive_ , at least, with everything going on. When he caught up to them, slightly out of breath, he greeted Kurusu and then asked (Y/N), “Can I talk to you?”

She frowned a bit, reading the urgency on the second-year’s face, and turned to Kurusu. “You can go ahead. I don’t want to make you wait,” she offered. 

His thin brows furrowed, “Are you sure?”

She nodded. “I’ll text you when I get home, you worrywart,” she smiled before waving him goodbye. Once Kurusu had left, (Y/N) focused her attention on the boy shifting his weight from foot-to-foot. Her lip poked out at the new bruise on his face, gracing his right temple in a subtle brown. “What’s up? Are you doing okay?”

Mishima hesitated, but shook his head ‘yes.’ “I, I know you can’t do anything, but… is there anything you can try? So we don’t get expelled? Can you talk to Niijima-san or Principal Kobayakawa?” He held his elbows in a self-soothing gesture. “I don’t know what to do, I can’t get expelled. My life will be over. I’ve been looking at minimum wage jobs that will actually accept me–”

(Y/N) sighed in sympathy. The option of mentioning Kamoshida to Goro and ending all of this washed past her again. It was her best choice, one that was the most likely to induce results. But time was of the essence, and they only had two weeks until the alleged board meeting. Not even Goro could whip up evidence to make an arrest in that time. But it wouldn’t hurt to try… 

So all she did was bring Mishima into a light hug, whispering, “It’ll work out somehow. I have a feeling. Just… hang in there.” Maybe her brother was the only option.

But seeing the exhaustion in Goro’s eyes as he told her he needed to stay up late again, she decided to stay quiet.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being in a conversation with Goro and Akira together was... interesting. You were certain that Goro already had a ten-page report ready on the dearly detested transfer student.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more slight suicide trigger warnings //  
> also i was writing this while watching crime shows with my mom so i had -10 attention span

The weekend did very little to erase the tension swooping through the school halls, and (Y/N) ultimately felt worse. At least Suzui was alive – she had confirmed that through Takamaki, whom she ran into at the vending machine during practice – but that did little to erase the guilt, the fact that another life could have slipped through (Y/N)’s fingertips.

She was barely present while Makoto asked a few girls in their class some questions after school; for a ‘guide on how to prevent this in the future,’ Makoto had quoted Kobayakawa. Was suicide preventable? Should she have done something different all those years ago, to prevent her mother from succumbing to the same fate? Had the power rested in her and Goro’s hands, after all? She was only a child. Her mouth felt sour and she wanted to go home.

Somewhere, the topic strayed to Kurusu – likely mentioning his confrontation with Kamoshida alongside Mishima and Ryuji – and one of the girls began the talk of why they shouldn’t have let a criminal into Shujin. They addressed him as “that delinquent boy” and the other girls, of course, agreed with their friend. Makoto remained silent as they spoke. (Y/N) waited a moment to let them talk before interrupting, “You mean Kurusu-kun?”

The girls stared at her in shock when she used his name – the name written above his head was now “ _transfer student_ ” and “ _criminal_ ,” among other things – but (Y/N) simply gazed back, waiting for their response.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot you knew him!” one of the students said. “People have been talking about you two being seen together.”

A small pout irked (Y/N)’s mouth, yet not because people were talking about her; she felt guilty for Kurusu. She had hoped that talking to him in public would at least increase his likability around school, though that wasn’t the only reason she talked to him – he was genuinely fun to be around. And cute–

Before (Y/N) could answer, another girl warned, “You should be careful around him. I’d hate for him to snap on you. But– I guess you don’t have much to worry about, with Akechi-kun being your brother.”

(Y/N)’s eyebrows furrowed, and Makoto’s anxious stare indicated she could sense her growing upset. “He’s a good guy. Really. I’ll still be careful, but–” she sighed, eyebrows beginning to lower from confusion to anger. “You shouldn’t talk so badly of him. You don’t even know him.”

The girls straightened at this, one of them starting, “We didn’t mean to make you upset, Akechi-chan–”

Makoto turned to her, fingers tugging at the ends of her hair – her tell for distress. “(Y/N)...”

Wearied, (Y/N) started toward the stairs and waved her hand dismissively. “You can get your work done, Mako. I’ll be at the school store.” She was fed up with this, and she had to avoid confrontation for Goro’s sake. 

Of course, she caught sight of Kurusu and Ryuji loitering outside their classroom on her way to the ground floor. She saw a flash of two blonde pigtails and assumed it was Takamaki – she didn’t know they were friends. She hadn’t planned to approach them, but they all made eye contact and she wanted anything to distract herself from the girls upstairs. 

After a quick greeting, she asked, “Are you guys friends with Takamaki-chan?” 

Ryuji rolled his left shoulder. “You could say that. She just ran off’ta the bathroom for something. Said her hair was lop-sided,” he mused. 

“I usually don’t see you after school; can’t blame you for leaving as soon as possible, though.”

Ryuji spat out an awkward chuckle, and she almost missed Kurusu giving him a blank but equally intimidating “ _shut up_ ” look. “Ha… yeah, hate it here, for real, haha… We’re… actually ‘boutta leave.” The blond leaned down to Akira’s ear and made an attempt at whispering, “You’re gonna stop at that airsoft shop, right?” 

(Y/N)’s brow rose, debating whether to let them live in their fantasy of correctly keeping secrets or just ask. There was only one airsoft shop she knew of… 

Before Akira could open his mouth, she cut in, “‘Airsoft shop’? You mean Untouchable?” Both boys snapped over to her in shock, either because she overheard Ryuji or because she actually _knew_ what they were talking about. Awkwardly, she continued, “I don’t shop there, but I’m close with Mun- er, Iwai.”

Ryuji nearly shoved Akira into oblivion as he lunged forward and squeezed (Y/N)’s shoulders. “Shit, REALLY?!”

(Y/N) smiled like she just got forced into a news interview while trying to buy groceries. “I won’t ask what you need there… But if you’re that scared, just say you’re friends of mine. He’s a softie when you get to know him… don’t tell him I said that.”

“Wait, but how do you know him?” Akira was of course the one to question. His face was still fogged with confusion, and she didn’t blame him – a cute girl like her knew this big, buff gun dude that _Ryuji_ was scared shitless over? 

The same nervous smile pinched her mouth. “Family friend, you could say. I’ve known him for a few years,” she gave the vaguest explanation possible. They didn’t have to know everything.

“Is there somethin’ we can say that will make him happy? A favorite TV show or something?” Ryuji shook (Y/N)’s shoulder, who laughed and softly brushed his hand off.

“He’s not as scary as he looks,” she giggled. “He’d be better if you didn’t speak much, anyway.” Taking a step back, she waved at them with a final grin. Ryuji stared at her like he was about to reach out and hold her hostage while they visited Untouchable, using her as active blackmail in case Iwai strangled them or something. Any other day, she would have been fine with stopping by to see Munehisa and alleviate Ryuji’s obvious anxiety – but she had work to do today. “You’ll be fine. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

* * *

It had been a week since the suicide attempt, and things had returned to a sickening normal. It felt wrong. People cared little for the aftermath, only spreading the news of the moment Suzui was at the top of that building, at her worst. (Y/N) at least listened to Takamaki talk about her visits to Suzui in the hospital. (Y/N) hoped to see her at some point, too.

She had hung around Leblanc a few times the past several days – she found out they also served tea, and she promptly told Sojiro that she would never leave. Within the period, she and Akira had agreed to first names. Being around him, Ryuji, and everyone else made everything a little easier.

(Y/N) actually swung by the café today, fortunately catching Akira while he was there – he had been difficult to track down lately. She presumed it was just the school year picking up its pace. Only one more year, she reminded herself. 

Speaking of which, Akira was drowning in his homework two stools down from her at the moment, and she had luckily finished for the weekend so she could watch him smugly. (Y/N) couldn’t act mighty, though – her patronizing jabs at Akira were coming from the girl who wrote her entire spring break paper the night before school started. She was going to get her grade for that back on Monday… 

Morgana had made himself comfortable in Akira’s lap, caged in his arms as he leaned on the counter to loom over his papers, and Boss was focused on the TV with the lack of customers. The café was empty when (Y/N) overheard the mention of a detective on the television, ignoring Akira’s mumbled thoughts to himself to listen in. She watched the broadcast now, blinking when she saw her brother on the screen.

“A high school detective, huh?” Boss murmured – coincidentally right when Goro spouted one of his corny jokes that somehow made the audience burst into laughter, regardless.

Twirling one of Akira’s pens on the counter, (Y/N) grunted, “Can you change the channel, I don’t feel like listening to his stupid jokes right now.”

“What’s wrong with my stupid jokes?”

Of course it was Goro to walk in at that moment with impeccable timing. Baffled, Boss glanced at the TV still flaunting Goro’s face before looking back at real-life Goro. Sensing his confusion, the detective chuckled and clarified, “It’s pre-recorded. I can’t be in two places at once quite yet.”

“Your jokes are even worse in real life.” (Y/N) groaned, resting her head on her forearm to watch him sit in the stool beside her. “What are you doing here,” she deadpanned. Boss and Akira blinked simultaneously – along with Morgana peeping out from Akira’s arm – all unsure how to take (Y/N)’s aggression toward this random guy that happened to be on the TV. She forgot Goro was a celebrity sometimes.

“You forgot that I’m the one who told you about Leblanc in the first place,” he hummed, casually ordering his drink. 

“Are you two… okay?” Boss asked, instead of an “ _okay_ ” or nod for Goro’s order. 

“He’s my brother,” (Y/N) cleared up, sitting straight again. Another group blink.

Then started the normal reaction to being told they were siblings – Boss and Akira (even Morgana?) stared back and forth between the two, comparing their features. It wasn’t anything new.

“And you weren’t going to tell me you’re related to a _celebrity_?” Akira huffed, glancing at his work before returning his gaze to her. “Hurt.”

Morgana let out a meow and (Y/N) had become partially convinced that he spoke Cat because he chuckled, ruffling Mona’s fur. Content with his examination of the two, Boss silently turned to gather what he needed for Goro’s order. His eyes had a certain suspicious glint in them that almost gave (Y/N) the impression Goro had interacted with Boss before, done something to earn his distrust. _Who did you piss off here, Goro…_

“So this is where you’ve been disappearing to,” her brother pointed out, propping his jaw on his knuckles and waving away any of her skepticism like condensing fog. 

“This is your doing. You can’t blame me,” (Y/N) grunted back, but she was smiling now. She caught Akira watching them in the corner of her eye, gaze tracing over their expressions and casual body language as they talked. People often commented on how close she and Goro were – she supposed it was obvious with how naturally they conversed. 

(Y/N) knew that if _she_ noticed Akira staring, Goro _definitely_ did, so she prayed that he wouldn’t mention it and make things awkward. She should have been paid for how much she’s saved him from uncomfortable conversations that _he_ wrung himself in. 

There was a short silence between the three, and it was just enough time for one of Goro’s puns about a… door? A murder convict? She didn’t even know, but she blinked until she felt her eyelids scrunch together. 

“Can you actually change the channel, I don’t think I want to listen to myself, either,” Goro sighed. 

Boss permitted them to switch to something else – not without Akira murmuring that Sojiro hadn’t even let _him_ touch the remote yet – and (Y/N) took the initiative to just press down a channel. There was some news broadcast on now, and though she didn’t want to hear about the recent subway crash, anything was better than Goro’s ‘television charm.’

“You’re… Kurusu-kun, if I remember correctly?” Goro said and, oh god, here it goes.

Akira nodded, resting his chin on his arm now. “I was expecting you to come back sooner,” he mused, muffled from his weird position.

Umm…

(Y/N) had been fonding over Akira, but was there some gay thing going on between him and her brother? 

Goro chuckled, completely unaware of the shock flickering through the girl in the middle of their conversation. “Work has been getting the better of my free time. I apologize for seeming intrusive last time.”

Intrusive? Did Goro terrorize this café and still dare to show his face for his _golden Jamaican coffee bean_ or whatever? That would explain Sojiro’s apprehension.

“Okay, what did you _do_ last time you were here?” (Y/N) sighed, blinking in his direction.

Goro forced a small laugh, this one a bit more awkward. “It was just a misunderstanding. I’ll explain later.” He thanked Boss for his coffee and Akira had officially exited their conversation, returning to his papers. Goro continued, “I accidentally interrogated Kurusu-kun my last visit because I was–”

“Being nosy as always?” she finished for him, but then poked his arm in an attempt to lessen his offended glare. “Let me guess – did you start ranting about how busy your valuable work schedule is because you’re an _advocate for justice_?”

“Exactly that,” Akira said, and the unexpectedness of it made (Y/N) snort.

Before Goro could defend himself (probably with another Justice Propagation) (Y/N) caught a notification on her phone for Animal Crossing and squealed. Unlocking her phone, she kept it flat on the counter beside her empty mug as she opened Pocket Camp. The concerned stares from all four of them caused her to laugh and she chirped, “Someone wants to buy my shells!” 

“You play Pocket Camp, too?” she didn’t nearly expect Akira to ask. She quickly asked for his friend code, and Goro peeked over at her screen occasionally when she got distracted and began doing tasks.

She had been able to spark a conversation including all three of them equally, and that was the first time she saw Akira laugh. It was clear, quickly muffled by a hand over his mouth as he looked back down at his work. She didn’t even remember what made him laugh, something about her argument with Goro that her Animal Crossing island should be her top priority in life. Boss listened silently, occasionally providing his own commentary with a smile.

“You’ve been here a lot recently,” was the first thing Goro said when they walked out. He did the thing where he was quite obviously thinking aloud and (Y/N) wanted to quash any ideas he had.

She tugged at the front strands of her hair nervously, flashing a sheepish smile. “Uh… the coffee is just _sogoodIjustcan’thelpbut_ -”

Goro’s face somehow became more unamused. “(Y/N), you’ve never been a big fan of coffee. There’s something more than that.” As if it suddenly clicked, his eyes widened for a second before returning to their suspicious narrowed state. “It’s that boy, isn’t it?”

(Y/N) squeaked. “ _No_ –!”

“Kurusu-kun, was it?” Goro said, more to himself. He turned away from her, eyes cut to the side as he probably renewed his mental note of the name. “He _is_ interesting, hmm? I find myself enjoying conversations with him, as well.”

“ _No_ –! I mean, _yes_ , he is! But–”

“–But it’s not like that, is it?” Goro looked back toward her, giving his shit-eating smile. “That’s the boy you called cute a few weeks ago, am I correct?”

(Y/N) groaned, head lowering in defeat. “Okay, okay, _yes_ ,” she sighed, glancing at a few of the people walking past them. “I’ve been visiting to see him. But it’s just because we always have nice conversations! And because he’s cute– _but_ –!” She shook her head to put her mind back on track. “He’s the new transfer student at school. He’s been having a hard time, and I wanted to at least be there for him. The Shujin kids are brutal – I would know.”

“Hmm…” Goro touched his chin. “That’s good, at least. ‘New transfer student’? He wouldn’t happen to be one with a criminal record, would he?”

Shit, she had wanted to keep that secret from him. “Yeah, he is. But–” (Y/N) gave him a side-eyed glare. “Don’t go doing research on him and sticking your nose in his files. He’s fine, I promise,” she reprimanded.

Goro merely grinned as they entered the train – like he was going to do _that_. “Naturally,” he hummed, and bit down a chuckle when (Y/N) poked his cheek and snapped back at him, “Don’t ‘ _naturally_ ’ me, Mr. _Has Done a Background Check on Every Boy I’m Attracted to_.” 

(Y/N) glanced at a child sitting between her two parents across the train aisle. “You still haven’t told me what happened last time you went to Leblanc.”

* * *

“How did you get a better grade than me when you wrote the entire paper the night before?” Makoto sighed, glancing at her ‘dreaded’ 91 in comparison to (Y/N)’s 96.

Certainly the queen of being intelligent with a stupid front, (Y/N) shrugged and grinned. “I don’t know, ask the language department,” she joked, and then laughed when Makoto gave her a sour look.

Atop the chatter of classmates sharing their scores or reviewing their mistakes, the dismissal bell sounded. (Y/N) looked back to Makoto, who was frowning down at her graded rubric – she bit back a laugh. “I have to go to cheer, did you wanna walk together?” she offered. 

Makoto nodded, still reading over her essay as she packed her things. “Are you doing anything next weekend?” 

(Y/N) glanced up as she thought over her plans. “I don’t think so… Unless Ryuji or Akira asks me to meet them for something.”

Makoto very clearly did not like that, eyebrows pinching on her forehead. Even more, something flashed in her eyes when (Y/N) used Akira’s first name – oops. “You’ve gotten close with them lately… You should be careful, you know about Kurusu-kun’s criminal record, right?”

She exhaled, swinging her bag on her shoulder, “Of course – I think everyone does. I’ll be okay.” They exited the classroom side-by-side, advancing toward the library. 

“I just don’t want anything to happen to you– I–”

Makoto had been especially downtrodden lately, ever since Suzui’s hospitalization. She had vented to (Y/N) once about not wanting to fail her job as Student Body President any more than she already had, but then never mentioned it again, regardless of it obviously still bothering her. (Y/N) would have expressed her irritation more fluently – she hated being babied or having people worry about her, over anything – but she couldn’t, knowing the true reason for Makoto’s concern. She only wanted to protect the students. 

So, instead, she forced a weak smile and insisted, “Akira seems like a good person – and even if he’s not, I’ve dealt with worse. I’ll be okay.” They were outside the library now, but Makoto didn’t leave. She looked over (Y/N) attentively, mouth lowering into a weary frown as she managed a “ _But_ –” (Y/N) squeezed both of her hands, continuing, “I promise I’ll let you know if something weird happens. I’m still your interior spy for the student body, remember?”

Seeing (Y/N) grin while tapping her own forehead, Makoto reluctantly returned her smile. “Okay. I trust you,” she whispered. (Y/N)’s grin widened before they parted ways. 

Seeing the first hint of tranquility in Makoto’s face in the past couple weeks kept her mood boosted for practice – so much that she didn’t mind the team’s suggestion to walk to the nearby 777 once they were finished. It had been a ritual for them since (Y/N) had joined her freshman year, and possibly before. So, they grabbed their bags and trekked to the convenience store.

The air had remained at a steady 19°C for the past month, which was usual for April and May, hence the sun wasn’t fatal as it washed over the team’s backs. They gathered many stares on the way – both because they were a group of girls in cheer outfits, and also due to the dirt and mud coating their legs, shoes, and uniforms from training. This had become (Y/N)’s central joy, and she wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The cheer team stumbling into any snack store together usually resulted in a couple of employees fleeing to one of the back rooms, pretending they never saw them enter.

So it wasn’t surprising to see a man do just that, speed-walking to the presumed faculty room and closing the door behind him – leaving his singular employee to stand his ground. Boy, (Y/N) felt sorry for the guy that got stuck with ringing up about seven girls’–

_Akira?!_

(Y/N) blinked, gliding up to the counter with her mouth agape. Akira nearly mirrored her expression while he watched her approach. It was something straight out of a cartoon, especially with him wearing the strawberry-themed 777 uniform. 

“I didn’t know you worked here,” (Y/N)’s smile pinched in that way when she was holding down a laugh. The sound of old vending machines running and a distant TV met her ears. 

The other cheerleaders had dispersed throughout the store by then, picking out their snacks and drinks. Akira glanced at them warily before turning back to her. “We can’t all live on detective money,” if it were anyone else saying that, (Y/N) would have obliterated them on the spot. But it was just Akira, so she let him slide.

She couldn’t help an eye-roll, though. “You say as if I don’t have a minimum wage job, too.” Akira’s eyes lit up and she could already tell he was going to ask about her job. “Don’t ask,” she promptly cut him off, but she laughed a little.

“Fine, fine,” Akira surprisingly gave in. His eyes flashed back and forth between her face and her clothes. 

“Is something wrong?” (Y/N) asked as if she were in any place to be questioning his staring. 

Akira blinked, answering with a question of his own, “You’re a cheerleader?”

(Y/N) ogled at him in confusion before glancing down at her dirty cheer uniform. She smiled nervously. “Oh, yeah – I’m actually the cheer captain. I figured Ryuji or someone had told you by now.” He wordlessly shook his head and (Y/N) snickered, taking the time to eye some of the nearby candy displays. “We stop by here some days after practice to get snacks. A tradition, I gues–”

“ _(Y/N)-chan!_ ” one of the girls calling her name snapped her out of her idle explanation. Glancing back at the source of the voice, (Y/N) told Akira that she’d be back and floated through the store to the chip aisle. 

Returning to the register a few moments later, (Y/N) noticed the awkward tension between the girls and Akira – they abruptly silenced their conversations while they were paying, nervous to be around the cursed transfer student. 

Eager to prove that he was better than his reputation led on, (Y/N) casually placed her piles of food onto the counter and hummed, “This is the best time of year for practice. I love summer, but there’s something so nice about the spring.”

Akira smiled gently from her remark, but his shoulders were still a bit tense as he rang up her items. “It’s better in my hometown – there’s more nature to actually look at.” Regardless, the cheerleaders all stared, wide-eyed, at their interaction, probably shocked to see Akira could talk without instantly biting someone’s head off. 

“Oh, yeah, I forgot you’re not from the city,” (Y/N) said. “I’ve been to some of the rural and suburban towns; they’re pretty.” A couple of her best foster homes were in the few rural areas of Japan.

“That’s a lot of food, (Y/N)...” it didn’t take long for one of the girls to comment on the pile – as she expected. (Y/N) merely shrugged.

“I need to refill my snack supply at home, anyway,” she mused, nonchalantly digging the yen from her wallet. Needless to say, her bill was much higher than most of theirs. She was going to be forced to use Goro’s money in these food stores one day – eh, he wouldn’t miss it.

“Does this count for Akechi, too?” Akira jested, accepting the payment and sorting through the register for change. 

(Y/N) scoffed. “He can buy his own food,” she hummed, and accepted the plastic bag with her goodies inside, “with his detective money.”

“I’ll tell him you said that.”

She gave him a final smile and wave, seeing that she was the last to checkout. “I’ll see you later, Akira,” she chirped. They filed out of the store silently, in that way (Y/N) could tell they were going to gossip as soon as they got out the door. 

Sure enough, they did. “Do you know him?” one of the girls asked her, quickly followed by another, “How did you do that? You talked so casually with Kurusu-kun…” (Y/N) unwrapped one of the small glazed pies in her bag, shrugging. Seeing her nonchalance, one of the second-years hummed with a cinnamon bun in hand, “I don’t think I could ever do that… he seems so scary.”

By the way they were talking, one would have thought she just did something like tease a lion with meat and escape its den. The cheer captain scoffed, swallowing her bite of the pie before replying, “He’s sweet; he wouldn’t hurt a fly.” She didn’t see any harm in tarnishing whatever intimidating front Akira’s made for himself, so (Y/N)’s face grew into a sinister smile, “He talks to his cat and works at a coffee shop.”

The team gaped at (Y/N) all at once, some letting out surprised gasps or quiet “ _wow_ ”s. 

“To be honest…” another second-year murmured, “he is kinda cute…” There was a collective shriek, the cheerleaders bombarding their friend with questions and reprimands for calling Akira cute. (Y/N) only sighed, grinning as she watched them shake the Akira Admirer by her shoulders.

* * *

The next morning, handmade notes were posted along the school hallways, a supposed “calling card” for Kamoshida Suguru. The writers were self-proclaimed Phantom Thieves of Hearts, demanding Kamoshida to confess his crimes and sins.

Chaos erupted in Shujin, needless to say, and (Y/N) decided from a glimpse of anger Kamoshida flashed at Akira, Ryuji, and Takamaki, that she should steer clear of him for a bit. 

She mentally teased the idea of the three of them being the supposed Phantom Thieves but decided it must have been a coincidence.

She didn’t know where this was going, but she sure as hell was excited.

* * *

She didn’t see Akira again until that Saturday after cheer practice. The week was over, and it definitely felt like it. Something about the past few days left her drained and sucked dry, lurching like a sponge in air. Just a long week, she reminded herself. 

No, it was more than that.

(Y/N) had propped herself on a railing by the mostly-abandoned outdoor bleachers. The gymnasium had replaced much of the field’s use, especially with Shujin’s new specialty in volleyball. The other cheerleaders had already left, and she was still here because staring at nothing in particular on the schoolyard was more appealing than going home. She didn’t bother to tighten her ponytail – it was practically about to fall loose from the rigor of training – too occupied with something else.

At least it was the weekend… she could finally give herself a break.

The sound of footsteps on the soft grass hit her ears, and her instinct was to throw her bags on her back and leave. The last thing she needed was a confrontation right now, especially with no one in sight as a witness if things went awry; she didn’t need Goro’s Detective Lectures to know these things.

Right before she hopped off the railing, she shoulder checked her possible assailant just to see Akira approaching her. She figured he’d already gone home or ran off with Ryuji somewhere.

(Y/N) noticeably loosened up, shoulders dropping. She forced a smile that must have been too pinched because Akira pursed his lips in that way when he was assessing something. “Oh… Hi, Akira.”

“I was hoping to see you practice today,” he mused, anyway, deciding to leave (Y/N)’s obvious tension alone for now. 

Her eyes glued back to the grass, no longer gazing at the nearby roads or some of the surrounding trees like she had for the past fifteen minutes. “You’re a little late; everyone just left.”

There was a moment of silence that she assumed he was using to stare at her. She was waiting – waiting for him to inevitably ask if something was wrong. In the hope that she could postpone it, she moved to return his stare – just for Akira to quickly glance away. 

“...Is there something bothering you?” his voice was quieter.

(Y/N) took a deep breath. “I’ve just been thinking a lot. It’s not a big deal,” she murmured. 

She heard Akira take a step toward her. “Did you want to talk about anything?”

Although hesitating, she shook her head. “No… I think I’m just sad about Suzui-chan still, even though her... attempt was a few weeks ago. And also everything with Kamoshida. I knew he was a piece of shit, but I didn't know so many people were victims to him.” Akira nodded in solemn understanding. She didn’t wish to stay on the topic and make herself feel worse, so she dropped her feet to the ground and asked, “Can I stop by Leblanc if you’re on your way back? I wanna borrow one of your books again.”

Akira smiled at that, but the weight of the previous topic was still heavy in his eyes. “Will stealing my books make you feel better?” He followed (Y/N) as she began walking toward the station.

She hummed. “In a perfect world. You have good books.”

“I’m honored.”

Trudging up the Leblanc stairs to the alleged attic was nerve-wracking and… creaky. It was early enough in the evening that Sojiro was still there, sipping from a mug with a newspaper in hand. He gave them a dubious look that made (Y/N) anxious – how ironic that she was going up to a boy’s room solely to look at his _books_ and _not do anything promiscuous_. Her ex-boyfriend could never. 

The attic was humid, if only a bit alleviated by the plug-in fan as Akira turned it on the highest setting, and it was sparsely furnished with a small bed, couch, and some tables. A few cobwebs hung from the ceiling or lingered on the bookshelf – which was not filled with books. His novels were still stuffed in one of his moving boxes by his desk.

The small size of his book collection did nothing to derail her awe as she read over the titles. Energetically asking where he got his books from, Akira twisted his bangs between his fingers. “I’ll be sure to show you one day soon.”

Morgana had already passed out on Akira’s thin mattress – she was tempted to steal some of Goro’s money and buy him better things – stretched out on the blanket like he owned it. With how clingy Akira was with the cat, he probably _did_ own it.

She didn’t linger long, picking a novel about a dystopian hellscape and telling Boss goodbye on her way out the door. 

* * *

“You’re home early,” (Y/N) commented when she saw Goro at the kitchen counter, probably trying to make some mess of a dinner. He had been getting home at his usual late time all week, but she didn’t mind too much. School was… demanding, for both of them. 

After asking him about his day and listening to his daily turmoil, he returned the question to her and she sighed. “Long. It’s hard to keep up with everything…”

“Has something else been bothering you?” She should have anticipated Goro to catch the faint rain cloud hovering over her. His job was literally to observe body language from the moment he clocked in; she didn’t know why she still expected him to not see through her.

Desperate for someone to talk to, it was difficult to turn the offer down and keep it simple; she had a therapy appointment coming up, anyway. “I’ve just been thinking about Suzui-chan a lot – the girl who attempted suicide – and Kamoshida,” she gave the same explanation she’d given Akira. “I’ll be okay. I’m gonna shower and try to get some work done.”

Goro didn’t seem eager to drop the subject, but he knew not to press. “Okay.”

She passed by him in her walk to her bedroom, and the faint noise of his intent sniffing made her stiffen. “You smell like coffee,” he pointed out, and when she turned to look at him, he was giving her a quizzical look. “Were you at Leblanc again?”

(Y/N) blinked. “What?! I was only there for like, five minutes!” 

“I rest my case,” Goro said smugly, concerning his previous hypothesis of her crush on Akira. “I still think you should be careful around Kurusu-kun, though.”

(Y/N)’s palm met her forehead. “I meant it when I said don’t go searching illegally into him.” She didn’t know why she even bothered; Goro was definitely going to go search illegally, and he definitely already had.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's a better way to toast to a sex offender getting arrested than to go roller-skating?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok i was planning to post this chapter like two weeks ago but then motivation said: ⬇️⬇️ and then when i finally got motivation back then my power said Goodbye! so i was like :}

Goro gave a passing glance to (Y/N)’s closed door.

She hadn’t left her room all morning – which wasn’t unusual. She caged herself off every now and then after a busy week because, between school, practice, and work, she inevitably grew exhausted. He knew to not check on her, to just let her rest. 

(Y/N)’s lack of energy must have manifested into an aura leaking through the apartment; he abruptly found himself with no motivation. Goro had resorted to a random flash game that popped up on the sidebar of a website and somehow didn’t give his laptop a virus. Mindlessly clicking to pass the level, his other tabs of news articles burned into his fazing attention. Maybe an off-day wasn’t the worst… It wasn’t like he enjoyed his work as much as he desperately claimed. It was more of… something he _had_ to do. Something to keep him busy, at most.

(Y/N) made things a lot easier. 

They both had reputations to withhold – though to obviously different extents – and the inspiration to keep each other going was somehow mutual. Seeing her give her all in sports and school pushed him to persevere. They often had to convince each other to take breaks and not overwork, so, consequentially, they often had some rest days that they spent goofing off together. But they’d get back on track as quickly as they began to slump; Goro had an end goal, and he wasn’t about to get stuck in a rut that put everything he’d achieved to waste.

It wasn’t until past eleven in the morning that (Y/N) exited her room, an unidentifiable blob hiding somewhere in her sweatshirt and sweatpants. Only a few messy strands of hair hung out from her hood, posture slumped like a monster coming out of hibernation. 

“You’re up,” Goro casually pointed out, looking back to his laptop screen. This was also normal.

All he got was a small grunt in response. The demon was on the move, advancing toward the kitchen. (Y/N) tossed two poptarts in the toaster, leaning on the counter as she waited. 

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, luckily,” (Y/N) sighed. “I was so tired after this week, I don’t know why…” She kept eye contact with him for a moment, before she glimpsed a flash of white fur on the balcony, bright in the sun. 

“Eri is here and you didn’t tell me?” (Y/N) asked, staring out the screen door at the white and brown spotted fluffball. 

Goro briefly glanced at the cat sitting on the railing. “She’s been there all morning,” he said. 

“And you didn’t let her in?!” she shrieked. She rushed to the door to slide it open and gesture the small cat inside. “You’re a monster,” she accused after Eri had pattered inside the apartment and began investigating the kitchen. (Y/N)’s sock-covered feet were light on the floor as she followed the cat, still awaiting her lousy breakfast.

“The litterbox is in your bathroom, and I wasn’t going to open your door,” Goro’s attention had glued back to his laptop screen, absently tapping his arrow keys.

“You act like I’m going to murder you if you come in,” (Y/N) huffed. Goro gave her a look that dragged a “ _S_ _hut up_ ” out of her, right as the toaster popped back up.

“The only reason she’s coming back is that you keep giving her food,” he stated, seemingly not amused by the thought of housing the stray. 

“So, you’re telling me that you don’t like taking care of Eri?”

“I didn’t say that–”

“Ha!” (Y/N) hummed, a chunk of a poptart sticking out of her mouth.

“We’d have to register her with the rental office.”

“That’s not hard,” she pointed out, watching Eri jump onto the counter. “Your job takes more time than that would.”

“I’ll see. And why is she on the counter?”

Ignoring him, a small smile formed on (Y/N)’s face as she stroked the cat’s chin, fur soft like cotton balls under her fingers.

After finishing her breakfast and dropping some food into Eri’s bowl – the cat basically _did_ live here – (Y/N) grabbed her phone from one of the stools. She plopped down on the couch next to Goro and slammed her head down on his shoulder hard enough to make him grunt.

“Ow?” he prompted, looking down at her with knitted brows.

“...Why are you playing that,” she blinked. 

Goro tried to shoot her a glare, but it just turned into him shakily holding down a smile. “You’ve infected me with your lack of attention span.”

“Hey!” (Y/N) grinned when the cat made herself comfortable on her right side. She wasn’t in the mood to fuel his harmless insults so she checked her phone instead. There was a notification from an unfamiliar group – opening her IM, she realized Takamaki had added her to a chat with Akira and Ryuji. They had texted a bit – mostly just Ryuji asking Takamaki why she was awake that early, before she reminded him that it was 10am. He must have fallen asleep after that because there was no response – and lord knew where Akira was – so (Y/N) replied, over an hour later, to thank her and send a meme. It was a nice feeling to create a new friend group. She wondered if Makoto would join them.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Goro asking her something. “Did you have anywhere to go tod–?”

“ _No_ ,” (Y/N) quickly answered, closing her IM to instead check Instagram. She had a decent amount of followers – she’d joked that Goro was her marketing strategy, because he boosted her a hundred or so followers each time he appeared on her posts or vice versa. “This is the one day I’m able to do _nothing_.”

“I’m with you on that,” he said. (Y/N) didn’t catch his eyes actively glancing at her hand as she reached out to shut his laptop screen until he said, “Do _not_ close my laptop.”

(Y/N) snorted as she leaned up from his shoulder, resting on the couch cushion now. “Can you at least stop playing that game from, like, 2012? You don’t look like you’re gonna get any work done today, anyway.” (Y/N) read him and his failed work attempts like a book, and he frowned – though he did close the tab with the game open. The open digital documents on the tab he was brought to already made his head hurt.

With a sigh, he murmured, “Do you have any better ideas?”

(Y/N)’s eyes sparkled and she turned to him, one leg up on the couch while she grinned, “ _Play MarioKart with me?_ ”

“ _No_ –” Goro glanced at her begging face, and then back at his appalling detective documents, and groaned. “ _Fine_.”

* * *

The weather was a bit warmer today, and (Y/N) was stupid enough to forget to drink enough water yesterday. Now she had to restrain every bit of her to _not_ chug during practice. 

(Y/N) panted as she leaned down to pick up her water bottle. The liquid was still cold; thank God for thermal water bottles.

“Chi, hurry up!” one of the other senior cheerleaders – and also co-captain – called, bouncing in place to the music they were playing from someone’s phone.

(Y/N) blinked as she caught sight of her phone, the screen lighting up inside her unzipped bag. It was a text from the new group chat (which had been mostly inactive, besides a few messages here and there), specifically from Takamaki asking (Y/N) to come roller-skating with them during Golden Week. 

As if the day couldn’t get any more perfect – Kamoshida had barged into a school assembly that morning to reveal his own crimes, a hollow shell of the legendary coach he once was painted as. Makoto looked terrified from her spot beside her, but (Y/N) was biting back a grin the whole assembly. It was about time; now she just had to hope that the justice system would actually do their job in giving him a long sentence.

A lofty smile framed her face, but she couldn’t dwell on it because her co-captain was about to slam her head in with a pole for taking so long, and she returned to their routine.

* * *

Just like that, Kamoshida’s confessions made a blunt break into Golden Week. Everyone was left to sit on their emotions and opinions on the matter for three days, having yet to learn the outcome. (Y/N) couldn’t be happier, but she didn’t hold her breath; law enforcement was tricky, and they had a possibility of not even taking Kamoshida seriously, especially with the “Phantom Thieves’” unknown method of changing hearts. 

Goro unfortunately wasn’t involved with the case, so she had to rely on the rest of the police system for this one.

The sun was up, the apartment windows were open, and (Y/N) was ready to go roller-skating. 

She heard Goro as he walked to the kitchen, and let out a small grunt while adjusting her position – she was now leaning on her shoulders, legs stretched above her face in a surprisingly graceful Plough pose. 

“Hey, Oro!” she greeted, staring at him upside-down. She could see the nervous twinge of his brow through the gap between her calves. “Did you want to join me?”

With a small laugh, Goro shook his head. “No, I’ll have to pass,” he replied, securing his tie around his collar. 

(Y/N) rolled back into place so she was lying flat on the floor, and heaved out a sigh. “Morning yoga is good for the soul,” she sang, but Goro stared, unmoved. 

“I have my morning exercise routine, you have yours.” He looked back at her after peeking in the fridge, apparently unsatisfied with what he saw. 

As she asked him when he was leaving and explained that she could walk with him to meet with the others, he gave her a doubting look.

“Don’t make me late,” Goro watched her scurry off to her room to prepare an outfit and make some sense of her hair. She, luckily, didn’t, and they left exactly fourteen minutes later. The train was crowded for Golden Week – awkward squishing into her brother check – and filled with tourists courageous enough to face the crowds. 

Goro mentioned Kamoshida, and she managed to fake confusion on the matter. She just barely escaped his rant of justice and how scummy Kamoshida’s crimes were because she caught sight of Akira, Ryuji, and Takamaki. She felt guilty to cut off his justice-talk, but… “There they are!” she exclaimed, looking back at Goro quickly. “I’ll see you later!”

He stared tentatively, watching (Y/N) rush up to the three Shujin students. They all glanced at Goro as she approached them, and he was the first to initiate a wave – only Akira and Takamaki returned it, while Ryuji pretended to not see.

Takamaki didn’t hesitate to elbow Ryuji. “You’re being mean,” she sighed. 

Ryuji glared at her in response – they’d obtained a sort of friendly rivalry in the past month. “He’ll be all right.” He had never gotten along well with Goro, in their few interactions during track meets. (Y/N) didn’t understand why; just clashing personalities, she supposed.

“Who _was_ he?” Takamaki turned to (Y/N). 

“My brother,” she hummed.

“Whoa, really?! I didn’t get to see him up close. Wait, are you guys twin–?”

“ _Come oooon_! I wanna get going!” Ryuji began pushing the two girls toward the mall, one hand on each of their backs. Akira followed quietly, smiling as (Y/N) laughed and Takamaki jumped away while scolding him. 

* * *

“Are you sure you don’t need help?”

She asked the question, but she already pretty much knew his answer. The way Akira was staring cluelessly at the roller skates on his feet said enough. “Yes. I know exactly what I’m doing.”

“You haven’t even gotten up yet,” a smile was poking at (Y/N)’s lips. She pointed back to the rink, where their blond friends were competing for who could do the most circles around each other, “Ryuji’s been waiting for you.”

Desperate, Akira gestured to his laces, exasperating, “I’ve tied my laces now, see?”

(Y/N) stared at his skates for a long moment, blinking before saying, “You’ve mixed up some of the holes.” 

Akira glanced down with a blink, “I don’t see what’s wrong with them – and that’s what she said.”

The innuendo wasn’t surprising. “Ignoring that…” (Y/N) sighed and kneeled down, her wheels sliding on the floor in front of him a bit. “And they don’t look tight enough; just let me fix them.” She easily undid Akira’s mess of laces and tied them up his ankles, trying not to focus on the contact; she suddenly realized that she’d never touched Akira before. Ironic that the first thing she touched of him had to be his feet… anyway–

He looked like a child as he gazed at his tied skates, and she had to bite down a laugh as she stood back up. “Are you ready now?”

Akira still looked doubtful. “I’m gonna be bad.”

With a giggle, (Y/N) offered her hand – oh, wow, from feet to _hands?_ What a chad. “You can hold on to me. I’m stronger than I look, I promise.” 

Although hesitant, Akira carefully brought himself to his feet – he looked like he didn’t want to take (Y/N)’s hand at first, but his foot slipped beneath him and he had to. Tiny shocks electrified her skin where he held her hand, until he eventually found a more secure grip on her wrist. 

She fumbled as Akira leaned on her, but (Y/N)’s dexterity from cheer came in handy and she managed to steady them both.

Reaching the rink’s wood floor was a victory in itself, and (Y/N) did everything possible to not laugh at Akira’s clear terror and instead praised him. With him this close, she could smell the lingering scent of coffee on him – hidden cons of living in a café.

“I figured you’ve roller-skated before, country boy,” (Y/N) said, and then cackled when Akira made a face. 

Wincing, he hissed with a laugh, “ _Stop_ , I hate it when people here call me that.”

“But it’s true,” Ryuji peeped in, circling by them with ease – surprising, for he had been just as petrified as Akira when he first got on the rink. 

The only thing keeping Akira from dying an early death via roller rink floor collision was (Y/N) using her free hand to grab his other arm, steadying him. The terrified look, like that of someone who had stared death in the eyes, made (Y/N) snort. 

Once he had regained his composure, Akira scoffed, “You weren’t lying when you said you’re stronger than you look.”

Takamaki followed quickly after Ryuji, stopping beside the two. “Wow, you really meant it when you said you’ve never roller-skated,” Takamaki said in probably the most pitying voice she had heard from her. (Y/N) couldn’t control it that time and slipped another snort. 

Akira’s face lowered into a deadpan, grasp still tight on (Y/N)’s wrist. “Don’t patronize me.”

“Shouldn’t this be the other way around?” she said mostly as a joke, in relation to his awkward hanging-onto-her situation, but then Akira looked at her and cracked, “Don’t worry, I’ll find something you’ll be clinging to me for.”

(Y/N) was still running the words through her head when Ryuji grabbed one of Akira’s hands, easily rolling him away against his will. “C’mon, dude! I’ll teach you some things,” he exclaimed; (Y/N) and Takamaki watched sympathetically while Akira stared at them in a plea for help. The two boys disappeared into the small crowd in the rink, and the girls were alone. 

“Thank you for inviting me,” (Y/N) decided this was the best time to say. “I’m glad to see you’re doing better after everything with Kamoshida.”

Takamaki beamed at her in such a wholesome way that (Y/N) wanted to cry. “Of course! And yep, I am too…” Her eyes softened, smile balancing into something more wistful. “Thanks for sticking up for me that one day… I feel like you gave me motivation with your courage… I really envied you then, I never thought I could stand up to someone like that.”

(Y/N) smiled, absently adjusting her footing. “You can. I didn’t think I could, either, but it was feeling like I couldn’t that makes me want to fight back.”

Takamaki nodded. “I see that now. Thanks – for pushing me to realize.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Takamaki-chan,” (Y/N) hummed. 

“You can call me Ann,” she corrected her with an affectionate smile. 

(Y/N) quickly returned it, nodding. “Got it… _Ann_.”

* * *

After an hour or so of teaching Akira to skate, he had improved enough to not cling on someone all the time. He was a fast learner – Ann diagnosed him as an _experiential learner_ – so he swiftly got the hang of the basics. He had watched in awe as (Y/N) and Ann effortlessly maneuvered around the rink, able to support both their own weight and his when he stumbled. Ann was easily the best within them, though – (Y/N) was close behind, as she had grown up with roller skates, but she hadn’t actually gone to a rink in a couple of years. 

When Ann managed to tire them all out, they trekked to a frozen yogurt place beside the rink. Sitting at an outdoor table after purchasing everything, they chatted aimlessly. (Y/N) didn’t even know that Morgana was there the whole time until the cat peeked out of the bag resting on Akira’s lap, eyeing the frozen yogurt in his hand.

“Wait, (Y/N); back to your brother–” (Y/N) was surprised Ann hadn’t brought it up sooner; her curiosity got the better of her sometimes. “Are you close with him? I haven’t seen him before.”

That was shocking; Goro couldn’t seem to stay off of article headlines lately. Disregarding it while assuming Ann just didn’t watch TV or the news very often, (Y/N) hummed. “Yep. We live alone and have gotten through a lot together.”

Ann still had the plastic spoon in her mouth as she responded, “ _You rive arowne_?” The expected disapproving answer, but then she grinned and removed the spoon, “I do, too! Well, minus my parent’s, uh… maids.”

“I might not like ‘im, but you guys _do_ get along really well for siblings. It’s weird,” Ryuji added.

“Why don’t you like him? He looked nice,” Ann questioned, her nosy side showing. She gulped down her spoonfuls of ice cream while intently listening. 

“I dunno, he just seems… _rude_ and… what’s the word… _uptight_ whenever I see ‘im,” Ryuji replied. (Y/N) could respect that.

“You’re not wrong,” she smiled a little.

Goro could be a bitch sometimes. 

Regardless of being his supportive twin sister who loved him with all of her heart, she knew that. He really didn’t know how to act occasionally; she eventually stopped trying to correct him.

“Do you have a picture of him?” Ann turned back to her.

(Y/N) found a few photos of them together on her phone, and of course Ann was the friend to take the entire phone and scroll through your album when you were just trying to show _one_ picture. “Aww, wait– why are you both good looking?!”

“Uh–”

“You look so cute!” Ann turned the phone around and revealed a photo her friend had slipped of her and Goro at an ice cream shop during spring break. She managed to snatch her phone back before Ann uncovered and analyzed her entire camera roll. Ann didn’t catch it until after (Y/N) had already stolen her phone back, and her lips pursed. “Wait. Was that a detective coat-thing?”

Morgana made a conveniently timed meow and Ann must have taken cat communication classes with Akira because she shot a glare at the black furball. Still, (Y/N) continued, “Oh, yeah, he’s a detective.”

“ _What_?!” Ann shrieked, the only one in the group who wasn’t aware. “Is that even legal?!”

(Y/N) giggled. “I guess so. He was smart enough to get the job.”

Seeing the lack of a reaction from the rest of them, Ann’s eyes narrowed as she scowled at Ryuji and Akira. “You guys already knew?!”

“We thought you did, too,” Ryuji let his eyes fall shut as he rested his head on the back of his chair.

“ _No_!?” The blonde’s eyes suddenly widened and she slapped her palm onto the iron table. “Does that mean he’s working on the Kamoshida case?” 

They all turned to (Y/N) expectantly – including Morgana, who was licking some frozen yogurt from his nose – and she replied, “No… He’s busy with another case right now.”

Ann drooped, tracing her red fingernail along the patterned holes in the table. “Oh. That sucks.”

“Yeah… The entire thing with Kamoshida was weird, though,” (Y/N) hummed, realizing she hadn’t actually talked to them about the coach’s situation yet. “It was strange that he just broke down like that after everything he’d done, without a second thought.”

All of them seemed to focus on her ten times more when she voiced her opinion on Kamoshida. 

“What did you think of it?” Akira questioned. 

(Y/N) smiled, bitterly. “I was actually... glad to see it happen,” she admitted. “Ann and Ryuji know... I can’t stand him.”

Ann perked up, noting something. “Oh, yeah, weren’t you and Ryuji both on the track team before it was disbanded?” 

The two nodded, Ryuji instantly looking pissed as he thought of the team. (Y/N) remained unreadable. “I hated him,” (Y/N) scoffed. “Both because of what happened with Ryuji, and because he creeped me out.”

Ryuji added on, leaning back in his chair, “Yeah, Kamoshida was obviously interested in ‘er.” 

“Ryuji had to stick up for me a few times,” (Y/N) explained. “One day, Kamoshida groped me during practice, trying to teach me about form. I went off on him and quit right then and there. When Ryuji found out, he went to look for Kamoshida and confront him – that’s when he provoked Ryuji and got the team disbanded.” A sad smile formed on her face, “I feel horrible; they mostly blame Ryuji for breaking up the team, but I initiated it.”

As expected, the delinquent shook his head, frowning a bit. “Nah, you can’t blame yourself… you had a reason to quit like that.”

“That’s disgusting,” Ann muttered, holding a spoonful of cookie dough yogurt. “I’m sorry you had to go through that – and you definitely shouldn’t blame yourself.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, (Y/N),” Akira spoke quietly, in the process of slipping some of his frozen yogurt to Morgana. 

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, not because it wasn’t a big deal, but just to not let the topic linger on her; all three of them were just as much of victims to Kamoshida as she was.

The distant guilt snuck up on (Y/N) again, reminding her that she could have prevented so much had she mentioned Kamoshida to Goro. She technically had; a couple of times, but never with too much urgency, and that was what caused the lack of action. 

On top of that, she had never told Goro about her own experiences.

Whenever he’d mentioned Kamoshida, or his recent “change of heart” case, she feigned ignorance, pretended she’d never had a bad interaction with him. She had to directly lie one time; Goro actually asked if Kamoshida had done anything to her, and she forced a “no.” It was better to keep him in the dark. 

The possibility of him finding out on his own didn’t cross her mind until after she lied, but it was too late at that point. She couldn’t just take it back. 

Ann’s eyes narrowed, and she still managed to look so beautiful even when she was enraged. “I hope he gets thrown in jail for a long, long time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some group fluff sessions today ^-^ had to split this chapter in half so the next one will be coming shortly  
> also random buuut do you as readers prefer first person (I, my), second person (you, your), or third person (she/her) in reader inserts ? i plan to keep this fic in third person but it would be helpful to know for future fics i have in mind :}


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goro discovered something he wasn't meant to, and you happened to meet a new face in the midst of your friends' mysterious absences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what if you said “akira x reader fic” but then i said “take eternity to update <3”
> 
> to make a LONG STORY SHORT i basically realized i didn’t like the direction i was going with the fic so i’ve been distantly redrawing All of my plans and i cringe whenever i think of this fanfic because! i did not know what i was doing! So! i am back to clean up my mess <33 HOPEFULLY
> 
> in my disappearance, i also realized that i prefer writing in second person for reader insert fics to make it seem more inclusive and personal to the reader, but i will stay with third person for now D: don’t know, might just go feral one night @ 3am and change the entire fic to second person SDFJDS

The first day back from Golden Week, and everyone was dragged into a school pep rally. Ironic, considering the note they had just left on with Kamoshida.

Normally, Akira despised these (sitting with Ann, Ryuji, and Mishima made it a bit easier, though) but he had a goal this time. His attention was on catching sight of (Y/N) when the cheerleaders came out. Akira could tune out the obnoxious noise with that hope in mind – and also with Ann’s hand on his forearm the whole time as if comforting him. 

At least Ryuji was able to keep him laughing, especially when Ann would scold them both, and it genuinely made him smile when Ann would take his arm and shake it frantically when something big happened. 

The cheerleaders’ arrival was announced and it was easy to spot (Y/N), but he couldn’t assume the same for her end. He was probably the last thing she was thinking of when she was up there, trying to actively catch any possible mistakes. At the very end of the routine, she was lifted into the air in the typical cheer pyramid. 

(Y/N) caught his gaze. 

Akira swore he was the only one in that gymnasium for a moment. He felt like the most important person alive as (Y/N) smiled directly at him, finishing the cheer off with a wave. 

His smile was uneven for minutes afterward, even as (Y/N) had rushed to the sides of the gym walls with the other cheerleaders. Ryuji noticed something, whether it was the stiffness of his posture or the dazed look in his eye. 

“Dude, are you good?” he said, nudging Akira’s side. 

Akira gave him a small smile that probably looked ridiculous and airy. “Yeah.”

* * *

(Y/N) bid farewell to her therapist and was on her way, texting Goro to let him know in the process. She was still soaring on a high, ever since Kamoshida ratted himself out, really, especially with the news her therapist had disclosed today–

She was over a year clean of self-harm. 

(Y/N) took a deep breath. So much had changed in the past year. To think she’d still be here right now…

Humming to herself on the walk to the station, music floating through her headphones allowed her to reflect on everything – her new friendships, cheer, senior year. As she watched people on the train, the hustle of the world seemed almost rose-colored with some indie music in the background, like a natural hymn. The sky was shifting into an orange-tinted purple by the time she unlocked the apartment door.

Just like that, her mood was wiped away like someone erasing an intricate doodle off of a whiteboard; Goro was leaning on the couch’s armrest by the door, clearly waiting for her. And he looked pissed.

(Y/N) froze in the doorway, initiating an uncomfortable staring contest as she waited for him to speak. He seemed content with just staring, his narrowed eyes and crossed arms saying enough. Right as (Y/N) opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, Goro stood up straight and announced, “I need to talk to you.”

There was something in Goro’s _angry voice_ that somehow kept it as quiet and soft as it usually was, yet it was just as threatening. There would be a sharpness in his tone, but it was as if he never bothered to raise his voice. Running over her mental guide to Goro’s Furious Tones, she concluded that this one was angry, but not enough to lose his shit yet. She was still shaken, nonetheless.

Blinking, (Y/N) awkwardly closed the door behind her and dropped her bags, kicking off her shoes. Goro watched her every movement with an intensity likely saved for the criminals he had to deal with, as if she would randomly pull a knife out or something. She stiffly approached him, arms glued to her sides. “What’s… wrong?

“Some detectives interviewed Kamoshida today,” Goro explained, still holding the edge in his voice, “and your name came up a few times.”

Everything in (Y/N) froze, and she was nothing but a pounding heart inside a block of ice – and also a pair of eyes somewhere as she looked at Goro incredulously. She should have seen that coming sooner. But she thought he wasn’t even assisting in the Kamoshida case–!? “Wh… what did he say?”

Goro’s brows lowered even more, as if her answer confirmed whatever he’d heard. “He mentioned assaulting you last year, and that you’ve had quite a few encounters the past month.”

(Y/N) laughed nervously. “Haha... about that...” 

Goro wasn’t in the mood for her jokes, stare hardening. “You told me he hadn’t done anything to you,” he said, tone firm.

“Yeah...” (Y/N) accepted her fate. “I lied...” 

“Why?” His eyes were narrowed, boring into her. 

“I... I just didn’t want to worry you...” she sighed, squeezing her own hands together. “It didn’t lead to anything bad with the principal or police or anything, so I just figured there was no need to...” she trailed off, and Goro quickly took up the opportunity to speak. 

“But I asked you,” he said. “And you still said no.”

She didn’t have an excuse for that. “Yeah…” 

Goro looked her dead in the eyes. “Tell me everything – now.” 

(Y/N) sighed, dragging herself to the stool at the counter and sitting so she could face him. She took a moment to begin, figuring she would be talking for a while – storytelling was never her specialty, especially in grim moments like these. But she found a good beginning point – the first day he’d taken over their track practices – and began. 

(Y/N) didn’t see his face for most of her explanation, as she had resorted to staring at her pile of video games on the floor to soothe herself. Either way, Goro was silent while he listened. When she finally finished describing all of her experiences with him, she was taken aback to look up at Goro and see the rage evident in his eyes.

He didn’t say anything for a minute, and (Y/N) was briefly reminded of the parental lectures she’d received when she was younger. Her mouth tasted sour at the thought. 

“...Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, much quieter and softer than she expected. 

She took a bit, eventually replying, “I… I don’t know.” She squeezed her own fingers, glancing from Goro’s face to the plant in the corner. “Everyone always thinks I’m just going to run to you for help with everything… I guess I just wanted to prove I could deal with it myself. By the time I found out it wasn’t just me that Kamoshida was… treating like that… I didn’t know how to tell you. And I figured Shujin would cover him until the very end if needed, so the police would be set up to fail from the start.”

“But still, so much could have been prevented if you just told me sooner,” he defended, but (Y/N) could tell his guard had lowered.

“I _did_ tell you,” (Y/N) murmured, half-heartedly in already knowing it wasn’t a valid argument. “A couple times.”

“But you never said it was this bad,” Goro pinched the space between his eyebrows. “If I had known he was _abusing students_ , let alone _you_ – I would have stepped in sooner. If you had been more specific, he wouldn’t have–”

“I know, I know,” (Y/N) mumbled, pinching the ends of her uniform skirt. “I let my pride get in the way, and it nearly cost a lot of things… including Suzui’s life.” Her eyes lowered more, now focused on a patch in the carpet that didn’t look any different from the rest. “And I shouldn’t have confronted him, myself, either; that could have ended really badly. I’m sorry.”

It wasn’t shocking to him that (Y/N) had put up a fight. There was no doubt in Goro’s mind that she had inherited her unlucky anger from their father, none other than Shido Masayoshi. Goro had forced himself to fake courtesy and hide his aggression for the sake of his job, but (Y/N) was mostly spared from that weight. 

Seeing the remorse pressing her like a boulder on her back, and the tentative shift of her eyes after reflecting on it all, he decided to smile and insist, “I suppose it all worked out in the end, hmm?”

(Y/N) was clearly stunned by the abrupt change in his demeanor, looking up at him like he had just transformed into an alien. Determining he was genuine, she smiled a bit, too. “Yeah… I guess so… I’m sorry again.”

“I appreciate the apology,” Goro let out a quiet breath, posture noticeably loosening up. “I hope you mean it – don’t scare me like that again… please.” He gently jabbed her shoulder on his way to the space behind the counter and her smile widened.

(Y/N) spun the stool to face the counter now, leaning on it tiredly. “I’ll try. It’s awkward to talk to you about that stuff.” She rested her chin on her forearms, watching him fish out some leftovers from the fridge.

“That’s upsetting; is there any way I can make it easier?”

“Not really,” she sighed. “You’re accepting and stuff, so don’t worry about that, it’s just… awkward. Something uncomfortable in telling your brother you’ve been molested.” Goro evidently didn’t like her carefree attitude with the topic and shot her a reprimanding glare. Taking the hint, (Y/N) raised a hand in defense before he could start lecturing her again. “Okay, okay.”

Goro glanced away, lip bent in thought. “I’m sorry for getting angry. I just– I panicked. I should have calmed down and handled it better.”

“Don’t worry,” (Y/N) said. “You just scared me a little. I’m fine.”

His face wiped clean fast, returned to his normal stare. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t really a nice greeting; how did therapy go?” 

(Y/N)’s eyes lit up as she gradually restored her elevated state. There was something easing in finally coming to terms with Kamoshida’s abuse, even though she’d already opened up to not only her therapist but Akira and the others, too. Maybe it was the closure in not hiding it from Goro anymore. “I haven’t self-harmed for over a year now,” (Y/N) spoke softly. Goro’s eyes widened a bit before he smiled – one of the most heartfelt smiles she had seen from him in a week. 

“I’m happy for you,” he said, and it reminded her of a parent praising their child, a sort of approval that had been omitted most of her life. It made (Y/N) smile, too.

* * *

“Don’t take too long – we have to get to the art exhibit, remember?” 

“I know, I know,” Akira said, able to find Mona’s head inside his bag to gently press down on it. Of course, he was met with claws digging into his thumb as he swatted it away. “I just have to check for prices, and Ryuji needs a new gun, anyway.”

Opening the door to Untouchable with a small chime, Akira’s plans went to waste when he saw (Y/N) sitting on the checkout counter, reading a comic and making jokes with the shop owner. Akira underestimated it when she’d explained that she’d known Iwai for a long time because this was the most carefree he had ever seen the intimidating man. 

He stood by the door like an idiot for a second, Morgana peeking out to stare, as well, even when Iwai said, “Welcome in.” 

The uncharacteristically soft look on Iwai’s face lessened as Akira approached, but (Y/N) hummed, “Aki!” and some of the placid demeanor came back.

“A… ‘Aki’?” Akira repeated, but his confusion was brushed under the rug because Iwai looked up at him again, kicking his feet back to the floor from their perch on the counter.

“That’s right, he knows you, doesn’t he?” He gave Akira a quick once-over and the second-year had to force himself to not look away. “He’s always selling me weird stuff.”

Akira fought his urge to stiffen – he resorted to twisting his bangs as a substitute – but (Y/N) luckily didn’t seem to think much on Iwai’s comment, still engrossed in her comic.

“What are you here for today, kid?” Iwai’s posture returned to the menacing gun enthusiast he knew, but Akira could tell there was less gruffness in his words today. (Y/N) just had that effect, it seemed.

“Just checking prices,” Akira said because he couldn’t back away from this now. It was certainly suspicious for him to come into this store, as a high school student with presumably no income, let alone to look at model guns.

It wasn’t long after he had ventured to a smaller display in the back of the store that (Y/N) was appearing next to him, comic still in hand. He decided to ask, now that Iwai wasn’t staring down their interactions like a hawk. Well – he probably still was, but Akira wasn’t about to turn around to check.

“What are you doing here?” Akira questioned, half focused on (Y/N) and half on a model shotgun that Ryuji would love. 

“Well, Goro’s going to an art exhibit today. I wanted to go, but I knew he would just use it for his business connection stuff,” (Y/N) explained, the first time she’d looked up from the comic book for more than five seconds. “And I realized I haven’t seen Munehisa in a while. So I’ve been hanging out here.”

“The Madarame art exhibit?” Morgana’s voice was muffled from his bag.

“The Madarame art exhibit?” Akira repeated the cat, blinking. 

“Yep!” (Y/N) hummed, eyes cautiously tracing an AR-15 hung on display. He could tell she wasn’t a big fan of guns, even if they were fake. “Maybe I should have gone with him… eh, it’s not like the exhibit is ending anytime soon.”

“I’m actually going today, too,” he informed, smiling when she gaped at him. 

“You got tickets?” (Y/N) blinked. 

“No– I’d never pay that much for–” he cut himself off with an awkward staring contest with (Y/N), and then rephrased, “Someone I know is close with Madarame, and he let me, Ryuji, and Ann in for free.”

“Oh, wow, lucky. Let me know how it is.”

He knew this would ruin their mess of a plan completely, but some part of him felt wrong to leave without offering. “Did you want to come with me?” Akira felt Morgana freeze inside his bag, but he didn’t take back his words. 

(Y/N) stared at him for a moment, reading every part of his face while deciphering his offer. “Umm, is that allowed?” she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Akira shrugged. “Dunno, but if you want to go, I can sneak you in with us,” he said, ignoring Morgana’s faint protests.

Luckily, (Y/N) declined the offer. “Nah… I had some stuff to do later today, anyway. Thank you, though.” She gave another glance at the display case. “I didn’t think you actually shopped here – why? Are you into airsoft sports?”

Akira had brainstormed a few lies for this moment, whenever it would be, but his mind was wiped blank now that it was actually happening. So he settled for, “Kind of. I mostly just think the models are cool.”

“I don’t think I would be able to look at it if I bought one,” (Y/N) admitted with a slight shiver. “Guns are scary – even though I’m 70% certain that Goro has a gun somewhere in the apartment.”

He chuckled, trying to mentally bookmark all the prices because he definitely wasn’t buying anything now with (Y/N) here. Only Iwai knew his strange habit of buying model guns, and that was a secret to keep between them. “I can’t blame you. It just means your instincts are at work.”

He was thankful for his stupid evolution joke because (Y/N) giggled. “I guess you’re right.”

Morgana scolded him on his way out the Untouchable door.

* * *

The others were busy again – (Y/N) noticed them running off after school before she could even get to the Practice Building almost every day – but, a change in events, they offered to walk with her today. (Y/N) figured it was just because she finally caught them before they escaped and they didn’t want to look like assholes for ditching her, but she appreciated the company, nonetheless. 

She didn’t pry into what they’d been so busy with, both because it wasn’t her business and also because they seemed to tense as soon as she mentioned their absence.

Just as they were leaving Aoyama-Itchome, Ann checked her phone and said to the guys, “Oh, Kitagawa-kun’s already there.”

(Y/N) didn’t know what they were talking about nor who ‘Kitagawa-kun’ was, but she didn’t ask. An inner part of her drooped at the fact that this was another thing she was left in the dark about. It’s okay; she had other friends, just like they were allowed to have other friends. 

The two boys nodded, and Ann glanced at (Y/N). She must have been making some kind of face because Ann went on to clarify, “Kitagawa-kun’s our friend; we met him at an art exhibit a few days ago.” Ann’s face lit up with an idea. “You should come meet him!”

(Y/N) didn’t have any plans so she agreed and took a detour to the Teikyu Building Accessway. Idly wondering who they would even meet here, she followed them to a spot by the large window overlooking the city. She caught sight of a tall boy with dark blue hair, the only one who really stuck out in the crowd, and assumed he was the friend they had mentioned. They had a habit of attracting the outcasts.

He was leaning one elbow on the railing, appearing deep in thought as he watched through the window. His focus faded when the group approached him, and he instantly stood up straight. ‘Kitagawa-kun’s’ intense eyes quickly fell on (Y/N), and she shifted on her feet. 

“Yo,” Ryuji gave his trademarked greet, followed by Ann saying, “We hope we didn’t make you wait too long.”

Kitagawa shook his head, but his gaze never left (Y/N); she felt he was analyzing her darkest dreams and core values with that stare. “Ah, no, I was making use of the time, anyway.”

By the way that Ryuji blinked, (Y/N) could tell he wasn’t used to the boy’s odd behaviors and she held back a laugh.

“Oh, this is Akechi (Y/N),” Ann gripped both of her shoulders affectionately, beaming. “She goes to Shujin, too.”

Kitagawa nodded, eyes fixing on her face now. “I see. It’s nice to meet you, I’m Kitagawa Yusuke.”

That name rang a bell now that she was hearing it in full, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly where she’d seen it. She heard so many names slip by in the news channels Goro constantly played at home, so she was never sure which names were actually significant.

She mustered a small smile. “I feel like I’ve heard your name… have I met you before?” She definitely hadn’t, but this was the least intrusive way to ask. 

(Y/N) was thankful to see that Kitagawa wasn’t looking at her like she was crazy, and she was even more relieved to hear him say, “I don’t believe so, but I am a pupil of Madarame, if that’s where you have heard my name.”

 _Ohh._ So this was the art exhibit smuggler that Akira had mentioned. 

(Y/N)’s eyes widened a bit, only as much as her instinctive blank face could allow her. “Oh, wow, that’s really cool.” And really suspicious. Why would the others befriend a potentially famous artist? What _school_ did Kitagawa even go to? “My brother just went to Madarame’s art exhibit last weekend, actually.”

“Wait; Akechi-kun was there?” Ann asked, face reflective of shock. “We were there, too! We didn’t even see him.” Ryuji gave her a perplexed look.

“What are ya talkin’ about? That’s a good thing,” he grunted without shame. 

Ann’s eyes narrowed on him, unlocking her phone to an app about feeding virtual cats. “Why do you hate her brother so much, again?”

“Ryuji’s never liked him,” (Y/N) easily clarified. “And he was probably off busy licking one of the big corporate guys’ boots. How to get promoted, you know.” She waved her hand casually.

“Add that to the list of things I need to tell Akechi in your name,” Akira commented, and (Y/N) gave probably the most genuine grin she had the entire interaction. 

“He knows what a suck-up he is,” she sighed, glancing at her phone for the time. “I have to go, but it was nice meeting you, Kitagawa-kun.” With a wave, she was off.

Once (Y/N) had vanished into the crowd, Kitagawa questioned, “Is she aware of the Metaverse, as well?”

They all shook their heads, Morgana finally peeking out from Akira’s bag. “No, she’s just a friend of ours,” Ann explained, still grinning. 

Kitagawa smiled a bit to himself, a hand meeting his chin with a content chuckle. “She’s very beautiful. I’d love to sketch her.”

Ryuji’s confused _what is wrong with all of you_ stare returned. “Dude.”


End file.
